A Yogscast Fanfic
by Blue14Dragon
Summary: After Rythian, Zoey and Teep jumped through the strange portal and end up in the Twilight Forest things had not quite gone to plan. Now the mage finds himself in a pickle with no idea where his friends are. But maybe he should worry more about his problems closer to hand...
1. Chapter 1 - Down

**Chapter 1 - Down**

"Have a nice death!"

- The air was rushing past him as he tried to somehow twist in mid fall to get his feet under him. It wouldn't make any difference. The sheer face of the cliff seemed to reel past his vision. He took a deep frantic breath and tried to brace himself.

The water hit him with the force of a sledgehammer the pain was imminent and unbearable, the impact squeezed the last bit of air out of his lunges. He was going to die. If not from drowning, the poisonous touch of the water alone would finish him off. And Zoey had his Enderpearl necklace. This was final. The currents were dragging him deeper, spinning him faster and faster into the dark. He lost all sense of direction, cracked his head on a passing rock. His lungs were screaming for air, still he couldn't even get his hands free, or grasp a single thought. Rythian was losing this fight and he knew it.

His last thoughts were of Zoey, hoping she would forgive him and find someone else, and the world went out.

–

Cold. The pain... death was painful. Pure agony. And the sound of rushing water so close to... his... face...? Something was making a crackling noise._ I can hear. _And why the pain? _I have a body, _he thought. His thoughts were sluggish. _Am I dying? Please make it stop. Make it stop. Sto... - _

The next time his mind rose to consciousness he could smell smoke. He could still hear the water close by and Rythian was sure he wasn't alone. Every breath hurt, his entire body felt like as if he had been kicked through a cauldron. Backwards. Twice. His clothes were clinging to him, wet and cold, but burning on his skin like fire. There was not an ounce of magic left in him. He was in no state to show any kind of resistance whatsoever and came to the conclusion that it was best to just lay there and concentrate on not passing out with every shallow breath he took.

Time passed. He clearly heard someone move once, probably adding fuel to the fire the heat of which he was slowly starting to feel now, drying his clothes. On one side at least.

He thought he could even see the light through his eyelids when he suddenly inhaled sharply as tiny droplets of water splashed on his face.

Reflexively he opened his eyes and tried to pull his head away. Someone was leaning over him with a waterskin.

"Please, no..." he coaxed. "Don't..." he coughed fitfully, gulping air, "no more. Please?"

Rythian couldn't believe how pathetic he sounded even to his own ears.

To his relief the hand with the waterskin moved away. He tried to sit up and realised that his arms were tingling, he had pins and needles all the way up to his shoulders and he couldn't feel his hands at all. He fell back and saw stars for a moment as his head hit the ground with a thud.

"Let me help you."

Hands grabbed his arms and half dragged, half pushed his back against a cold stone wall leaving him in a slouching upright position. Rythian could now see his counterpart, or at least her eyes in a dark face framed by short dark hair against the small fire behind her.

Her eyes. A deep purple, seeming to glow slightly in the dim cave. He swallowed hard.

"If you are planning to kill me," he managed, "just get it over with. I am done with this world." His voice was raspy but not quite as weak as in his first attempt.

She inclined her head slightly, studying him with an intense look.

"Someone clearly tried just earlier. And I don't know if you deserved that attempt."

She paused, a searching look on her face. "I will just assume that there might be a chance you didn't deserve it." She sat back, putting a small piece of what looked like drift wood onto the fire and arranged the hot coals around a flat stone in the centre.

"So. Now that you are awake, tell me your name."

Rythian tried to collect his thoughts for a moment. He was still wet and in pain. Weak. Drained of all his magic powers and apart from his feet, still tied with the same bloody ropes Sjin had used... How could it have come to this? Ordinary ropes! And he had thought himself above such things. Too powerful to be caught by a non-mage. Now he was here, wherever here was. Without Zoey. or Teep.

They had jumped through a strange portal into what seemed the Twilight Forest. But something hadn't been right. There had been endermen. And lots of them. And quite a few other strange and dangerous creatures. After the initial wonder and excitement of finding this awesome place, and after fighting a terrifying hydra, the three friends had been hard pressed by minotaurs, huge aggressive wolves and goblins. It had been more of a flight for their lives than an orderly retreat in the end. Even Teep's sharp shooting skills hadn't been of much use once the arrows and ammo had run out. Zoey had been very reluctant to touch any weapons made to kill. And his magic had forsaken him. He had felt almost helpless as they ran back towards the portal. He had made sure both his friends got through before he gave up the fight and turned to follow. But the portal had gone. He had been stranded and surrounded by enemies. He fought. He cut down one monster after the other. Some threw curses at him. He remembered the world growing darker as if cloaked in shadows. His movements slowing, arms and legs suddenly as heavy as lead. And then one of them got through his defences. They had drawn first blood. It would have been only a matter of time. They were simply overrunning him.

There had been blood in his eyes, he didn't know if it was his own... and then he heard shots. Mobs around him fell left and right as if hit by lightning. He had thought himself saved. Teep had returned! But no. He had been wrong. Oh so very wrong.

As his memories started to flood back, he barely suppressed a scream of frustration. He covered it with a grunt and a cough before answering.

"Rythian. My name is Rythian. Or 'That Bastard'. Depends."

"Well, Rythian. Welcome to the 'Dead End'." She made a sweeping gesture. "Seems you are my first and only customer here. And probably the last as well. Dinner will be served shortly."

She bent to the left, picked up a small fish and started gutting it with a small dagger. She then laid it skin first onto the stone in the fire, before moving to the next. Rythian could see three more laying nearby. He realised how hungry he was. The smell of fish and drops of fat hissing in the flames soon had his stomach rumbling. He tried to make sense of his situation and surroundings.

They were in a small stony cave, the only exit towards the rushing river as far as he could tell and even that seemed to run underground. _Unless it is night time out there,_ he thought.

_No, I fell a long way and was carried quite some way through the water as well. We must be deep underground._ _Brilliant. _The only escape was back through the river. _Why does this always happen to me? _He tried to study the woman without her noticing. She wore some patchy dark, possible black and green leather trousers with a dark brown-reddish belt and a grey shirt underneath a black and brown leather tunic. Apart from the dagger she had used for the fish, she didn't seem to have any weapons on her. Rythian studied her face again. Purple eyes. Almost the exact shade of his own. But something wasn't quite right. How had she gotten into this place? _Unlikely she teleported... _

"Are you going to tell me why someone tried to drown you then?" she flashed a quick look at him before returning to her cooking.

"No. Are you going to tell me your name then?" he retorted in the same tone, somewhat embarrassed at having been caught staring at her.

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Fair is fair. I told you mine, so...?" Rythian shrugged.

For a long moment she just stared into the flames, not moving while the fish started to burn with little wisps of smoke coming of the edges.

"Amber." she said suddenly realising that their meal was about to turn into ash. _A lie. Well that's a good start, _Rythian thought.

Amber picked up a broad piece of wood and slid the rather sad looking pieces of fish onto it.

"Now. I guess you are hungry?" She didn't wait for him to nod and just shuffled around the fire to sit next to him with the cooked fish on the wooden plank on her lap. "But seen as I don't know if I can trust you, I will just have to feed you for now."

Rythian suddenly realised his mask had been off his face the whole time. Of course! Sjin had pulled it down days ago and he had never managed to put it back into place again. Not that it would matter anymore now, now that Sjin knew. Maybe everybody knew by now. Sjin and Amber, or whatever her real name was, had seen the mark. He shot her an annoyed look.

"Seriously? Come on. You are armed and I am half dead."

She shrugged. "As I said, I don't know you. If you really can't stand the thought, I won't force you. More fish for me."

He sighed and shook his head. "Go on then."

She broke off a piece and fed it to him before eating some herself. With her being so close, Rythian could sense her magical powers. Still something was off and he couldn't put his finger on what exactly it was.

"Well I am sure I have never eaten worse." Amber snorted, picking out fish bones and fins.

After they had finished the last fish she dropped the wood onto the dying fire and went to the water's edge, squatting down with her back to Rythian. _Is she... she's _washing_ her hands? In water?_ He could hear her splashing and even taking a drink out of her cupped hands. She came back with a full waterskin.

"Thirsty?"  
"Are you fucking kidding?! Is this supposed to be funny? Because it isn't!" He glared at her.

Amber gave him a hurtful look of complete confusion. "What? I know you were close to drowning when I pulled you out, but I made you cough up most of the water." She took another drink out of the water skin. "Are you sure you don't want any?" she asked, waving it close to his face. Rythian tried to lean away from it, pulling a leg closer, tensing up, ready to kick at Ambers arm.

"I'm warning you, try this shit on me and you'll be in for a surprise."

"A simple 'no thank you' would have done the trick." She sighed, sat back cross legged and let her head drop onto her folded hands, elbows propped up on her knees.

"This is pointless. Look, I am obviously missing something here. You could say I am new in the area, so why don't you tell me something about you, or at least why you are so freaked out about a bit of water?"

Rythian shifted slightly. _She is either an exceptionally good liar, or... or what? _

"You really don't know? How can you not know? How," he shook his head in disbelief. "You shouldn't be able to touch water. None of us can! Not without a little protection. I don't understand." he trailed off, not sure what to make of the situation. His head was still hurting.

"Look. Enderborn can't touch natural water, okay? I don't know how you just did that. I don't really care. Just don't get any of it close to me, I really don't have any spare magic for this now..."

_Why the hell did I tell her that last bit? Damn. _

"What? You are basically _allergic_ to water? That's ridiculous. But don't give me that worried look, I'll keep the water for myself. Feel free to crawl over to the river when you've come back to your senses. Must have hit your head a bit harder than is healthy, eh?"

"You do know that endermen die when they get in contact with water for too long, right? It's almost the same for me."

"Bit short for an enderman, aren't you?" She grinned. "And I noticed your skin isn't black, seems you can't teleport, or you would have done so already and all my conversations with endermen tend to start and end with them screaming and then either dying or hiding. So far you've out-talked them all."

"I'm no bloody enderman! I'm Enderborn. Same as you. Well maybe not quite."

"If you insist you can be an '_Enderborn_' but leave me out of it. I think I have heard that word before somewhere, but I don't -"

Rythian interrupted her with a snort. "I can see your eyes quite clearly. And they are purple. Ever seen a human with purple eyes? You _are_ Enderborn or I am a bloody creeper."

"Whatever. Well it was nice to have talked to someone, even if you seem to have lost your wits. But I am tired and I will try and get some sleep in this... this hole. Please don't try anything, I am a light sleeper and I would be rather annoyed if I accidentally stabbed you after going through all the effort of dragging you out of that river."

She patted her sheathed dagger at her belt. The smile had vanished from her face. Her unblinking purple eyes staring at him was unsettling Rythian more than he would ever admit to anyone. _Do I look like that when I get angry? _She definitely meant business.

"Oh don't worry about me. I swear I won't touch you. I have my standards. Oh yeah and this fucking rope cutting into my wrists. In case you forgot. I guess it's pointless to asked for some relieve there?"

She didn't even bother with an answer and just raised an eyebrow in his direction before lying down opposite him with the fire between them, one hand on her dagger.

–


	2. Chapter 2 - Escape

**Chapter 2 - Escape **

Rythian sighed. He sat for a while watching the fire burn down. He could hear Ambers breathing gradually slowing as she fell asleep. _Now what. _He looked around the ground and slowly shifted sideways a little, listening to Ambers breathing all the time. He felt around behind him for anything sharp. There was a little ledge. He could feel it against his arms. _That will have to do._

He started rubbing the rope against the stone. Amber stirred. He stopped and watched as she settled again.

It took him the best part of the night. If indeed it had been night. Rythian had lost all sense of time.

He finally managed to get the wretched rope of and rubbed his wrists. The first thing he did was replace his mask. It was almost an automatic, unconscious move. It was pointless now, he knew, but it just didn't feel right leaving his face bare.

The fire had burned out and it was pitch black. Rythian looked at Amber. His night vision allowed him to see her outlines... _Wait. _Ambers outlines were glowing faintly. _Interesting. She must have a lot of magical potential. I don't think I've ever seen anyone leak magic in their sleep. I wonder... _He silently crawled over to sit beside her._ I could just... _He reached out and his fingertips where inches away from Amber's hand in which she held her dagger... And jerked back as if bitten. A tingling sensation started in his fingers, shot up his arm and spread through his entire body.

A faint sigh of pure relief escaped him as his body started to absorbed magic. He held both hands just above the weak glow and felt the power surging through him. Immediately he felt a lot more like a person and less dead.

_Oh this is... something. _Rythian couldn't help himself, he rekindled the fire with a flick of his finger, and healed his sore wrists and every other part of his body still hurting. A smiled spread across his face. Maybe there was a way out after all. He kept his hands hoovering above the escaping magic hoping to absorb enough to attempt a teleporting spell._ Unlikely but worth a try. If not, maybe enough to protect me long enough to swim out of here. _He shuddered at the thought.

His magical fire spread light and warmth throughout the cave, it didn't need fuel and was also completely silent. Which was probably why his rumbling stomach sounded incredibly loud all of a sudden. Using magic to heal himself had made him hungry, after the only meagre meal he had in days wouldn't have been enough to feed a child, never mind a grown man.

And then Amber was stirring and suddenly her eyes opened wide staring at Rythian in shock and horror. Before he could react a punch to his face knocked him right over and sent him sprawling on his back.

"Oof! Holy crap that's impressive." Rubbing his jaw, he propped himself up onto his elbows to look at the protective shield that surrounded Amber like a faint glowing edge. It had pushed him quite a way and now Amber was crouching in the centre of it shaking slightly. It had also encased the now roaring fire.

"Stay away from me Enderboy! Don't move or..." she made a slicing motion with the dagger, her knuckles white as she tightened her grip.

"Okay I'm sorry I scared you there." Rythian held up his empty hands. "No need to get carried away. I just really, really don't like tight spaces, or water, or being restricted in any way. And this place is getting to me."

"You were leaning over me! Don't lie! You were trying something funny. I _did_ warn you!" She was breathing heavily. It was getting quite warm, the fire was dancing wildly.

"Look, calm down, okay. Do you know how long I was sitting there for? I didn't touch you and I was definitely not planning anything 'funny' either. I just want to get out of here. I need to... I just need to get out of here."

"Well why don't you just go then? Just leave. Leave me alone! Can't you teleport or something?"

Rythian shook his head.

"I don't have enough power. I hate to admit it but I am stuck here until I am recovered and that could take some time. That's why I was, uhm leaning over you there. I was..." he felt guilty all of a sudden. He had stolen someone else's power. Without her knowledge. Against her will. What had he done? True, she wouldn't miss it, it would just have evaporated into nothingness, but still. It was the intention of taking someone's power for his own gains that made him feel dirty now.

He couldn't meet her eyes.

"I was stealing power from you. I could see it evaporating. So I took it. I am sorry."

Amber inhaled sharply. Suddenly the fire went wild. Flames where all around him the noise was deafening. The heat was immense. A flimsy protective shell covering his form was all he had to prevent the fire from burning him to a cinder there and then. Breathing was also quickly becoming very difficult. He covered his eyes from the blinding bluish white light with one hand pushing himself away blindly. There wasn't enough space. The fire filled the cave from top to bottom.

"Stop! Amber, stop! Please listen to me! I can't hold out any longer!" He gasped for air he knew had no oxygen left. He was panicking. There was no way out. The water would kill him same as the fire.

"Amber?! Amber!"

Everything went dim. As quickly as it had started the flames went out until only the small fire was left in the middle of their cave. Rythian found himself cowering in a corner gasping and coughing, his last bit of power used up in the fire storm. _I am so sick of this._

"Shit! Uh, Rythian? Oh Notch! I didn't mean to..."Amber started to move towards him, but stopped when he waved a hand dismissively. The dagger clattered on the ground, she was shaking even more than before.

"It's alright, I'm okay. Just give me..." he coughed and took a few deep breaths. "...a bit of space. I'll be fine. Really."

"I'm sorry. I don't know what happened. You said you stole my power and I panicked and got so angry and... I am so sorry. Notch! I almost killed you!"

Rythian couldn't quite comprehend what had just happened. _Bloody hell, if this happens when she panics I don't want to know what she is capable of when she is using her magic intentionally! _He sat up and tried to look calm, un-threatening and confident. _I need to calm her down,_ he thought. _Or she might accidentally finish what Sjin couldn't manage on purpose. _

"It's alright. You acted in self defence and you had a reason. I am sorry I took some of your power. I don't know what came over me," he shook his head. "You don't know what it feels like to have no magic at all when you could rely on it all your life. But I shouldn't have done what I did. So it is me who should be sorry, not you. And believe me, I am." He looked at his slightly singed clothes where the protective field had just failed the moment Amber extinguished the fire.

"You seem to lack a bit of control over your natural magical powers. Something like a force field should not just pop up by accident. And I don't think I have ever heard of anyone who could unintentionally cause a fire storm! I mean, if you had panick-teleported yourself away, I could understand. I did that a couple of times in tricky situations until I got a grip on it, but this..." he shook his head. "This is a completely different kind of vis. Who taught you your first spells?" _If I just get her talking, maybe this whole crazy situation will make a bit more sense._

Rythian hadn't moved from his place in the far corner, just made himself a bit more comfortable and hoped that Amber wouldn't feel too worried sitting opposite someone she was highly suspicious of and accidentally almost killed.

She seemed to feel more sorry for him that threatened by him and sat with her arms around her knees opposite the fire not meeting his eyes but staring at the ground in front of her.

"Oh Notch, almost..." she whispered. Judging by her face she seemed about to be sick.

"Amber?" She snapped back into focus.

"Huh? Oh yes. Uhm. I haven't really had a teacher. There was just that old guy, but... Uhm. I kind of thought I could teach myself as little as needed and just, well, live normally. I don't want it. It just causes trouble." She turned her face away and took a few deep breaths. She obviously had some bad memories of using her magic in the past.

"Nobody can learn magic by themselves. The most dangerous kind of mage is an untrained one, who doesn't know what he is doing. You need to at least know how to control yourself. If you choose not to use your magic, that's fine. But if you ignore it it will build up until your guard is down and things happen you didn't mean to happen." He paused and watched her face.

"You know, I have... had an apprentice once. I have some experience in teaching magic. I could help you there. And then you could get us out of here as a bonus, how about that?"

Amber gave him a sceptical look. She picked up her dagger turning it over and over in her hands. Rythian tensed. She didn't seem to take any notice of it, just stared at the blade, catching the light of the dancing flames. Finally she sheathed her dagger and looked up, determination in her eyes.

"Do I have a choice? I guess we can't be stuck here forever."

Rythian let himself relax. A little at least. "How did you end up in here in the first place?"

"Well, I found this mirror shard and something happened and I was here," she said, waving her hand dismissively. _Yet another little lie. _Rythian sighed inwardly.

"You know you don't have to tell me these things if you don't want to, but if you would like me to teach you, there has to be a certain level of trust between us. I can see that it could be a shaky start for both of us. But if we are just honest with each other it should be fine. So if you want to keep secrets to yourself, that is alright but please do not just make something up instead. And I will do the same, okay?"

Amber frowned but nodded in agreement.

"Then we are agreed? I will teach you and you will help me out?" Rythian looked at her expectedly.

"We are agreed." She nodded.

"Can I sit by the fire again? I promise I will keep my distance."

She shrugged, so he moved closer to the fire.

"So. No point wasting any more time. What do I do? How do we start?"

_Here we go. Again. _A bitter-sweet smile spread across Rythian's face.

"Lets see. First of all you need to know where your power source lies..."

–

Several hours later Amber was focusing hard on her hands trying to let a small amount of magic escape through her fingers. Rythian could see a few wisps rising from her ears and the tips of her hair, but he didn't interrupt her. She was a fast learner. True, there wasn't really anything else to do, but still.

A look of surprise and unbelief spread across Amber's face and her eyes lit up as she could see magical particles shooting from her fingertips into the fire, feeding it. Her hands and arms didn't show a single wisp of magic.

"Hey, look! I did it. I... oh." The particles died and faded away together with her smile.

"No, no that was good. That was great in fact. You are a very fast learner. And very talented. A true natural." He smiled encouragingly. "That is probably enough for now though. We should get some sleep. If you don't take it slowly you might become power-sick. Especially since you already used so much earlier. It is a bit like being hungover."

She laughed. "Hungover? Really? Wow, I didn't know that."

"Yeah. And it isn't pretty. Or so I heard." Rythian smirked.

"But if all I can do is make pretty sparkles... at this rate it will take ages before I can magic us out of here."

She looked at Rythian dreading the answer.

"I swear to you I will not take any of your power. It is the worst thing I ever did. It is wrong and going down that path can only lead to a dead end."

"But this isn't going to get us out of here. I am hungry and I am sick of this place. I need some fresh air and open sky. It already feels like I haven't seen the sun and the stars in a life time. And other people..." she trailed of. "I can't see another way. I have the magic. You have the knowledge. You can't teach me that quickly. But I can give you some power. Enough to get us out. Can't I?"

Rythian leaned closer making sure he caught Ambers gaze. "I don't think you understand. If you lower your defences and let me reach for your power source you can't go back. The control lies with the person taking the power. Not the one giving it. I could take it all and leave you _empty_. This isn't everyday magical practise. It requires a great amount of trust and understanding of each others strengths – and weaknesses. When you were sleeping you were only releasing small amounts of particles through your skin but your basic defence was still intact. Because you weren't doing it consciously. Opening up is different all together. Do you still think this is a good idea?"

Amber had turned white as a sheet.

"But... you just told me. You wouldn't warn me if you _really _wanted to take everything, right?"

"Wrong. If I really wanted you to do something I would advise you not to do it and just wait for your curiosity to get the better of you. And there really is no need for you to take your defences down. I am confident I can teach you teleporting in the next few days if we just concentrate on that and forget the basics for now. You will just have to catch some more fish until then."

"Rythian, I didn't catch those fish here." She looked worried. "I had them when I got here. I mean, how do you think you catch fish without any tools? No fishing rod, no nets? And in the dark?"

"Oh. Damn. I thought, ah well, never mind. Damn. Yeah you are right. Oh this is not good."

He got up and started pacing in the small area between the fire and the water edge. Half way to the edge he had to duck slightly to avoid a low hanging rock, which resulted in a weird half dance – step – step – step – duck – step – step – step – turn – and back.

"So, what happens now? What are you thinking?"

"You don't want to know. Seriously" he sighed. "I hate this. I really hate this. There must be another way."

"Rythian." Amber jumped up and grabbed Rythian's arm. "There_ is_ no other way. Please take my offer. Just do it. It can't be that bad, I didn't feel a thing when I was asleep."

Rythian looked at her as if she had gone mad. He looked at his arm. Then back at her. He hadn't really realised it before but Amber was almost as tall as he.

She mistook his look, quickly let go of his arm and took a step back. "Sorry."

He closed his eyes. He remembered Sjin and _he _hadn't stopped. He had just taken it all, laughing at him, keeping him drained. Every day. How could he ever have thought that man was harmless? To think that he had once lived in the same house, never suspecting that he was capable of this... He shivered. Never again. He needed to find a way to store an emergency supply outside his body, but close to hand and only accessible to him of course. He took a deep breath. _She is braver than I. Or more desperate._

"Yes. Yes, get it over and done with. Okay, just do exactly as I tell you. And I will swear to you to only take enough to get us teleported out," he looked around, "lets sit back down by the fire. Make yourself as comfortable as you can."

They sat down cross legged next to each other. Rythian moved a little closer, their knees almost touching. Amber shifted away slightly but he followed.

"We need to have contact for this. First for the transfer and then to teleport away together. So, give me your hand. Good. Now close your eyes. It is supposed to help you relax, nothing more. Just relax. Deep, slow breaths."

He watched her face, listening to her breathing and let himself relax. Amber shifted. He could tell she had trouble keeping her eyes closed.

"Maybe try looking at the flames instead. If that helps. Okay. Start again. Deep slow breaths."

She settled again and after some time he felt she was calmer and probably as relaxed as could be expected under the circumstances.

He lowered his voice to a whisper, "Now picture your power source. The glowing sphere that is your power is encased in a protective shell. Look at it from all sides." He paused to give Amber a moment to align her thoughts. "There is a little lock. Only you have the key to this special lock. Picture it in your mind. The key fits perfectly in the lock and turns easily."

A minute passed while Rythian tried to keep himself calm as well as concentrate on Ambers progress. His heart seemed to be pounding loudly in his ears.

"You open the door. And let the sphere float." It seemed like hours but suddenly he could see Amber's power like a floating sphere just as he asked her to imagine. He realised he had been holding his breath and slowly exhaled. Not to disturb Ambers concentration, he then reached for the orb with his mind, not his hand. What he found was disturbing and awe-inspiring. The shear amount of it made him feel quite small. _How can anyone's body cope with these amounts? It shouldn't be possible!_

The mad force of the swirling patterns by the magical particles seemed mesmerising. It was rather frightening. He started drawing a small amount from the main source. It materialised in form of a wispy tendril slowly moving towards his chest. He drew it into the empty shell that was his power casing. The tingling sensation he had felt the first time returned tenfold. He felt stronger, whole and full of purpose. He hadn't even noticed what had been bothering him the entire time. The lack of feeling useful. Now he felt... almost like himself again.

He tried to judge how much he would need to teleport both of them away. The trouble was, he only had the memories of his former amount of power to judge by. And suddenly he wasn't sure any more. He drew out some more and tried to get a feel for the mass as he was absorbing it. He watched his casing fill with power. _This should do it. I think. A little extra just to be sure. _

With a last unbelieving stare at the sphere floating above Amber's shoulder, it didn't seem to have shrunk at all, he let go. It snapped back towards Amber as if on a taunt string and vanished.

Amber let out a small sound and shuddered.

"Oh Notch. Oh Notch. Oh..." she covered her face with both hands and collapsed forward.

"Uh, are you alright? I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken so long. Just take your time, the feeling will be easing off soon, I promise." He couldn't suppress a shudder himself, remembering the sickening feeling of magic being roughly sucked out of his body by Sjin. Minutes passed in silence with the occasional shudder on Amber's side.

"Are you feeling any better? Because we could leave now, I mean right now."

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a bit... uhm. It feels horrible. I didn't think it would feel so... so horrible." She gave a shaky little laugh. "You are still here." She smiled at him.

"Yeah you caught me on a bad day here. Or maybe I am going soft." he joked.

"Now, seriously. Lets leave. Here." He held out his hand again and Amber took it without hesitation.

He teleported to the safest place he could think of.

–


	3. Chapter 3 - Home, Sweet Home

**Chapter 3 – Home, sweet Home**

As the particles around them settled Rythian tried to orientate himself. _I'm sure this is... oh yes, I can see the table and the bed. Phew. Nobody will come looking for me here. _He let out a slow breath.They had made it.

"What? _What? _Rythian, is this just _another_ cave? Because if it is... oh what's that over there?" She had spotted the bed and table in the gloom. "Were are we exactly?"

"This used to be a place of a friend of mine quite close to were I used to live. It's miles away from where we just came from. I think we should see if we can light this area up a bit, we don't want to be greeted by a creeper or anything nasty right now. Let me have a look, there should be a chest around here as well," he started towards were he knew the exit was. He could see grey light seeping through. It must be close to dawn out there, he thought.

Suddenly a whooshing noise behind him made him turn around and crouch in a defensive stance trying to draw his sword before he remembered he didn't have any weapons on him any more. He was instantly blinded by a fiery orb the size of his fist falling to the ground. He cursed.

"Holy crap! Can't you give me some warning before you do these things?" He suddenly saw the remains of the chest, smashed and empty in a corner and he sighed. "Well at least we have some light in here now, I guess." Amber mumbled something, _I take it as an apology,_ he thought, but he wasn't really listening, already turning away again trying to readjust his sensitive night-vision. He also checked on his remaining powers. It wasn't nearly as much as he liked but more than he had held for a week. He had to be careful not to waste any until it started to regenerate naturally again.

"Look, the exit is over there, where the light is coming from. I guess its just before dawn. We should wait a little until the sun is up. I don't feel like picking any unnecessary fights. Besides we need to decide what we are going to do."

Turning back, he sat down on the old bed. Amber had kicked the fire orb to one side of the floor and was now looking longingly towards the mouth of the cave.

"I guess you want to get back home? Or wherever it was you were going."

She sighed. "No. There is no-where for me to go back to. And I wasn't really going anywhere, just away, trying to find a place. Somewhere I like. Maybe a little skyisland. I don't know." She sat down on the table. "What about you?"

"Oh, I am already busy making plans. I know where we are and where I could find some people I need to... talk to. Or at least I know where to start looking for them. I just need to regain some more power and strength and also I will need to go and see if there is anything useful left out there to start rebuilding basic armour and weapons, torches and other useful stuff.

Believe me, I know exactly what I am going to do. So. The question is, are you going to stay around, to help me maybe, or are you leaving? I could teach you more magic as my apprentice if you like. You are an unbelievably fast learner, especially when it comes to fire it seems, that can be dangerous if uncontrolled. Or I will try and find you some provisions and a rough map of the area, so you can find your place you are looking for. Either way is fine by me." Rythian shrugged.

"Are you going to kill someone?"

"What?" Rythian had been staring at the faint light of the exit not really seeing it, but now his head snapped around and he stared at Amber.

"You know, it's always been easy for me to read people to a certain degree. My dad used to say I could smell a lie before it was even thought of. Reading you is a little bit tricky, but I can still tell when you are trying to avoid telling the truth by leaving out important bits. So. Are you going to kill someone?"

Amber crossed her arms. She sat on the table like a queen on her throne, head tilted slightly, expecting an answer. _And it better be the right one I guess. Oh well._

"I would love to." He got up, pacing between the bed and table, rubbing his hands together. Stopping in front of her, Rythian let a small smile appear which never reached his eyes. "So. Are you leaving? Or staying?"

Amber returned his stare for a long while. Unblinking. Then she nodded.

"I am staying." It wasn't the reply he had expected at all. _Okay. I just told her I would like to murder somebody. Someone please explain women to me one day._

"Brilliant. Great. Well it seems to me we have about an hour left before we can go out there so let's set up our temporary base in here."

They made a start on clearing some rubble away and took the empty chest apart to have some fire wood ready for nightfall. Amber was about to throw some bones out and down the face of the mountain side when Rythian stopped her.

"No, no leave the rubbish in the back, I don't want anyone who might be passing by notice that someone has moved in. I prefer to stay dead for as long as possible. It gives me the advantage of surprise."

She just shrugged and nodded. "Who do you think could be around to notice these things? It seems like quite a remote place to me."

He shrugged. "You never know. I haven't been here for a long while. But it pays to be cautious. And I will need the extra edge."

"If you say so. I think it is about bright enough to go out there. I am ready for some fresh air anyway."

"Lets have a look at the crater then, shall we?" Rythian made his way to the mouth of the cave.

"The crater?" Amber asked, following him.

The sun was just rising over the hills, the air was fresh and clean. Not a cloud in the sky. The forests and surrounding hills and mountains were quiet and seemed peaceful. He could see the sea behind a dark silhouette of ruins that used to be Blackrock Castle and what was left of Teep's lookout tower closer by.

They made their way down a steep and narrow path, Rythian taking the lead. At the base of the tower they stopped. Amber gasped. Rythian remembered exactly what the castle had looked like before the nukes went off. He stared into the crater. The small obsidian prison he had built to trap Duncan in, was still there. Even the TNT was untouched. Duncan must have felt intimidated enough to not come back. _That's something I guess. _

"Was... was this your home? What the hell happened? This is... it's huge! What could make a hole this big?"

"This is what happens when you become mad with power and don't have any scruple. It was a set of three nukes. My... friend tried to disable them but couldn't. It almost killed her."

"What?! I don't believe anyone could just blow up someone else's home for no reason! And with your friend stood right next to it? How could anybody hate you so much?"

She crouched down at the edge taking it all in, her sweeping gaze caught the obsidian cube at the bottom. She narrowed her eyes. "What is that thing at the bottom?"

"That's the place where I worked out a truce with the bastard who is responsible for all this destruction. Look, I really don't want to talk about it, okay? It brings back bad memories and I need to concentrate on other things now. Let's just walk to the other side to where the ruined walls are and have a look if there is anything useful left lying around. We need weapons most of all."

Rythian turned away to picked his way carefully along the edge, his eyes scanning the surrounding area, always looking for any possible threats. He spotted a creeper in the distance, but decided it wouldn't be a danger to them.

"Wait, Rythian. Tell me what happened here. I thought I was supposed to help you find the guy who tried to kill you, I guess that was the same person, yes? So how, -"

"No, that was someone else." Rythian interrupted her. "I am afraid I have made myself quite unpopular with being the only person here with any sense of honour and responsibility. Well, almost the only person. Anyway," he turned back to face Amber, "when I asked you to help me I might have been a bit hasty. I shouldn't really drag you into this. It is not your war. Maybe it is the best if I just teach you some basic magic and a spell so you can disguise the colour of your eyes and then let you go off to find your dream home." He nodded to himself. "Yeah, that would be the best. As long as you don't know the details and names you should be safe, should you ever meet any of my enemies. Just don't mention my name to anyone. –

Swear that you won't tell anyone that I am still alive," he grabbed her upper arm looking into her purple eyes that were almost at the same level as his. "Even if someone tells you things about me, even if they say they are my friends. They might not be. Or not any more. Swear it. Or I will have to insist on you leaving _right now_."

She tried to get free of his grip. Lips pressed to a thin line, she returned his stare with a glare of her own.

"Let. Go. Now. I am not your underling taking orders. And do I have to remind you who saved your live just a day ago? Is this how you treat people who selflessly help you?"

He let go, but kept his eyes fixed on hers.

"Don't get me wrong, I am immensely grateful that you saved my life. I am in your debt. But this isn't just my live at stake here, others might be in danger if word reaches the wrong ears. I don't do this just for myself! I don't take pleasure in fighting all the time! Now swear you won't endanger my friends in any way or our partnership will have an end here and now."

"I am no monster! I would never endanger anyone knowingly. But I can't swear something I might not be able to keep. I don't even _know_ any of your friends! Not even their names! Besides, _you_" she drew herself up to her full height, circling around him and underlining her arguments by poking him in the chest repeatedly, "you _agreed_ to teach me basic magic. You _accepted_ me as your apprentice. And you can't just drop me now, threaten me and break your word," she took a small step back. "If that is what you are going to do, fine. But I don't take it very well when people lie to me and break their promises."

Rythian noticed her defensive stance, her hand on the hilt of her dagger. He gave a mirthless laugh.

"You think you are good enough with that little blade there? Try me!"

"I don't have to. If you look around," she nodded behind him. "It's a long way down."

"I am not that easily killed, girl!" he snarled.

"I don't _want_ to kill you, you idiot! Is that so hard to understand? Do you find it so unbelievable that there might be people who don't pick your side but aren't your enemies either? The world doesn't work like that! Nothing is just black and white. I won't swear to protect your friends at any cost. But I will swear to not intentionally betray them if I can help it. Or you. And believe it or not but I never break my word. If you are too paranoid to accept this offer, too bad."

She had got a bit out of breath, her face slightly flushed, eyes ablaze. "And don't call me 'girl'!"

Their eyes seemed to be locked in a battle of wills.

Finally it was Rythian who broke the spell. He closed his eyes and sighed. What was he thinking? He couldn't send her away now. In a way she knew too much and yet far too little. He wasn't even sure whether he meant her magic skills or the situation he was in. It was a mess. But it was his mess and he would sort it out one way or another.

"Why do we do this? We are arguing when we should be working together."

Amber took a step back, looking at her feet. He got the impression she felt a bit embarrassed.

"Look, don't worry about it. Forget what I said. There are more important things to do right now. We will talk later, okay?"

She nodded already turning her back to him and without another word started off towards the little forest.

They hacked away at the first tree they came across, combining their strength it didn't take long. Rythian made a simple crafting bench. _Back to basics. Yet again._ He crafted a set of wooden pickaxes, tossing one to Amber and they set out searching the ruins for useful things. What they found wasn't much but some abandoned cobwebs gave them more than enough string for a fishing rod. Amber immediately took off her boots and rolled up her trousers to wade into the shallow waters. Rythian kept close by, always watching out for danger as well as looking for anything usable. _I need to get a message to Zoey. Somehow. Maybe something is left of her computer... or send a messenger. But who to trust? Or maybe someone else has the technology I need... That is a worry for tomorrow though. First things first. _He found plenty of dry wood in the tower's ruins but nothing else of value. On the top levels anyway. The day drew to a close and as the shadows drew out he called out for Amber. She wasn't where he had last seen her in the shallows but there was a dead fish gutted and cleaned lying on a rock nearby. Rythian picked it up and made his way westwards around the crater through the old overgrown farm area, softly calling Amber's name from time to time. He eventually found her waiting for him at the north side, hands full of plants some of which he didn't recognise.

"You picked up my fish? Good. I found some wild wheat, some flax and these mushrooms. I can make us some stew and if we build a furnace we can bake ourselves at least two loafs of bread."

Rythian looked at the bunch of little mushrooms and felt more than a bit uneasy. _Damn you Zoey. _His feelings must have shown clearly on his face.

"They are edible," Amber snorted, "honestly, I'm not trying to poison you. But I tell you what, you have the bread and I eat the mushrooms, problem solved."

At Teep's ruined lookout tower Rythian waved her on. "You go ahead and get a fire going I'll just see if I can't find anything in here. I won't be long."

Amber nodded. Just outside the outer iron fence he saw the with rubble covered remains of a wooden chest. He dug around and was rewarded with a plain bow minus the string but a large bundle of arrows that seemed usable. With his newly found treasure he made it back to the cave.

Amber had made a fire, an ordinary one in a stone furnace, Rythian was relieved to see, and was already roasting the fish on a stick over the flames. When Amber declared it cooked he caught himself waiting for her to take the first bite. He scowled. He knew he was being overly suspicious but he couldn't help himself. _Old habits die hard._ They shared their meagre meal with some bread and for the most part in silence, wolfing it down. Afterwards they inspected the arrows and the bow Rythian had found. The string was easily replaced. A few arrows showed cracks, some tips were missing and several were just too bent to be of any use. In the end they managed to save over half of the original bundle.

Amber yawned. It had been a very long day.

"You take the bed, I will sleep 'next door' as it were." Rythian said, ignoring her half hearted protests and settled on the cold hard ground in the pitch black tunnel between the mouth of the cave and Ambers niche. The faint orange glow of their furnace flickered across the walls. Despite his weariness Rythian realised he couldn't get to sleep. He felt bone tired but somehow his mind wouldn't stop mulling the events of the day over and over. Could it have been coincidence? Someone like him – no matter that she denied it – happened to be there just as he was about to die. And conveniently supplying him with enough power to escape. And something about her was strange. Had it been the other way around Rythian knew he would never have agreed to let anyone tap into his magic supply. _Other than Zoey, maybe. _Yet Amber had been the one insisting. And her power source! So much power and no desire to learn? Questions after questions tumbled through his mind but apart from the feeling that there was something odd about her he couldn't come to any conclusion. Eventually he drifted over into a restless half sleep.

–

Amber lay on the bed, her back to the rough stone wall staring into the dying flames of the furnace. She had thought she would be relieved to finally be far away from the fighting, the dying. Far away and safe. But she felt ashamed. And a sense of dread was still lurking in the back of her mind. Something far bigger was happening and she was involved somehow. Being used. She didn't like it one bit. Another yawn. She couldn't keep her eyes open. _At least I was right about him, _she thought drowsily.And sleep took over.


	4. Chapter 4 - Little Differences

**Chapter 4 – Little Differences**

The next day brought rain and thunder. Flashes of lightning illuminated the skies and the rumbling that inevitably followed echoed throughout their hideout, sometimes low and ongoing, other times near deafening. Amber spent the morning practising her power control. Rythian helped her through the exercises until he was sure she wouldn't hurt herself. She quickly got back into the mindset and was concentrating hard to release small amounts of magic through her fingertips.

Rythian sat with his back against the wall, eyes half closed deep in thought. He had checked his own powers as soon as he woke up this morning and found it little different to what it had been the day before. It was probably nothing to worry about.

He remembered when he had first started learning his basic spells. He had been cautious at first. Hoarding every scrap piece of knowledge and using as little of his own magic as possible. He had instead turned to using spell books and brewing potions. As he became more and more advanced in both fields, alchemy and enchanting, he remembered days when frustration got the better of him. It just hadn't seemed enough. One time, while he was on a mission through the Nether a stray arrow, directed at a ghast, instead hit a nearby zombie pigman. Suddenly he had been hard pressed. What he should have done was turn and run for the portal, but oh no, Rythian the mighty mage runs for no man! Or indeed a horde of undead pigmen. After the massacre that inevitably followed he had to steady himself every few steps to stop the world from spinning on the way back to the portal. That night he had been so sick he had begun to wonder whether he had been poisoned. That was the first time he had had no magic left in him. After that he had been careful to keep his different magical talents in the balance. You had to train yourself to use greater and greater amounts of power like you would train a muscle to become stronger.

"How long do I have to do this for?" Amber's voice brought him back to the here and now. He glanced at her. "Show me."

She pointed at the floor and let a small wisp of magic appear. "Now watch closely," with an almost smug little smile she extended her middle finger and let the wisp disappear and reappear on the next finger. Now she held out both hands all fingers extended and let the wisp wander from her right hand to her left jumping across each finger in turn. Rythian was impressed. And also worried. _This isn't natural. She is too fast. _He didn't let any of his thoughts show on his face.

"That's pretty good. Yeah. Pretty good." he hesitated. _I need to know a bit more about her before I teach her anything dangerous. Time for some serious talks, I think. _

"Amber, I think we need to get to know each other a bit better. We are going to live together for a while and it just doesn't seem right that we don't know anything more than our names." He paused. If Amber had noticed his slight emphasis on 'names' she didn't show it. _Fine. _"I want to know why you think you are human."

That got her attention. The wispy essence vanished.

"If this is about this being 'Enderborn' thing, I'm not interested. And I think you will find it hard to convince me. My parents are human, my friends are human and so am I. Just because I have a knack for magic, doesn't mean I am not normal. And my eyes are nothing special. My mother has blue eyes, my dad has light brown eyes. Mine are a mix. As simple as that."

"That's not -" Rythian tried to interrupt, but she pointedly talked over him as if he never opened his mouth.

"We used to live in a city pretty high up on some floating islands when I was little. My parents were both Skylords. So, yeah I'm not scared of heights. I used to love the place," there was am almost dreamy expression on her face, "there was an old wizard, he didn't really do much magic but it was always worth listening to his ramblings. Sometimes he would suddenly turn around, stare at you with piercing blue eyes and tell you things... secrets about the city or magic or people. And then he would change back to the old forgetful man he normally was. It was amazing living up there. Until the rumours started and some of my friends left me and school kind of went downhill from there. And my parents got into trouble because of me. I wanted to be a mage back then so badly I imagined doing magic... only one day it suddenly happened for real and I didn't mean it. I had horrible nightmares some nights... Long story short, we had to move house and so my parents decided they wanted to try themselves as farmers. We moved to the lowlands.

Well, for us it seemed like the lowlands. It was actually quite high up in the mountains. Just us three on a little farm. It was nice. But I missed the skies and the wind and flying with my parents airship. And then some people came from the south. Travelling merchants. They were a bit weird. They all looked at me in a funny way. My dad didn't want them to stay for the night, but it was us three against seven of them and the mountains are quite rough. Especially at night. So he gave in and let them have the shed and barn." She bit her lip, not meeting his eyes. "I had a terrible nightmare that night. I can't quite remember what exactly happened it was dark and then there was fire everywhere and people screaming and animals dying and it was terrifying.

I ran away. I'm ashamed to admit I lost my head and just ran. I could have stayed and helped, I should have done something, anything. I didn't. So now you know. I don't want anything to do with magic. But I don't want any more 'accidents' to happen either. So I need to learn. And I better be good at it. Cause I've had enough. It almost happened again back where I found you and I am sick of it."

_Well, look at that. _Rythian hadn't quite expected such a response. He was at a loss what to say to her.

"Okay. Uhm. I am sorry to hear that about your parents. Why didn't you go back later?"

"You don't understand! I failed them! Over and over again. It was my fault they lost their citizenship! Their home! Their lives! I am more than useless, because wherever I go 'accidents' happen! I don't want to cause anymore damage to my family and friends than I already have..."

Rythian raised an eyebrow at her.

"I see. So you don't mind causing damage to people you don't know then?"

Amber jumped onto her feet her hands clenched into fists.

"I have spent the last few years travelling the wilderness, avoiding people!" she hissed, "I've stayed in places only long enough to notice the signs. When I knew something was going to happen, I left. I spent the last month alone in the middle of a war zone fighting day in day out -" Amber stopped in mid sentence and took a deep breath.

_Basically a life of self-pity and a subconscious suicide attempt. Great. _Out loud he said: "And it never occurred to you that your family might not care about these things? Or that you could learn to control your magic?"

"I don't care if they care! I can't do it. I can't. They are better off without me. And I didn't know who to ask. I mean, what should I say? 'Hello Mr Wizard, I keep killing people by accident. Please tell me how to stop? Oh, but as long as I am around random accidents might happen to people?' Tell me, Rythian, how many people can you kill without meaning to before you aren't sure anymore if you are actually sane?"

"Alright, alright. I get your point. But don't you see? You are not just like any other human with a bit of magical potential!"

She threw her hands up. "I give up. You are obsessed. But can you please keep your crazy ideas to yourself? Cause I won't be listening. I think I have done enough magic for today, I am going mining."

Amber didn't wait for a reply, just picked up her wooden pickaxe and started digging stairs down in the very back of the cave.

_Notch, she is stubborn! _Rythian followed her with a pack full of torches. They dug away in silence for a while. Eventually Rythian's pick broke and he went back up to make some stone ones instead, to last them at least until they had some iron or any gems to make proper tools out of.

He was half way down the stairs when he realised there was nobody at the bottom. He hesitated then went flying down the steps taking three at the time.

"Amber!" She didn't have any torches and so the last few meters were plunged into near complete darkness. He cursed. He had picked up so much speed, he couldn't have stopped to avoid the sudden drop if he had tried. As it was he simply went with the fall and rolled when he hit the ground three blocks below. He came up in a crouch ready for any attack. Nothing happened. No arrows came flying, no growling zombies appeared, no spiders jumped out at him. But when he felt the slight draft of air down his neck it almost made him jump out of his skin.

"Good thing I heard you stomping down the stairs, or this could have ended in tears."

Amber lowered her battered pickaxe. It was covered in black ichor and looking past her, Rythian could see two dead spiders lying shattered across the floor.

"Why didn't you wait for me? I mean, what the hell? You didn't have any light, you don't even have a sword!"

Amber carelessly tossed her wooden pick aside. "Well, it did it's job. And I killed them before I jumped through. I am not _that_ stupid. Did you bring me another one?"

_Unbelievable!_ Rythian wordlessly handed her two stone picks and half of his torches. They lit up the area, picking out any ores and coal they came across. Deeper and deeper they went through little gaps and down freshly hewn steps through a maze of tunnels and caves until they reached the lower levels. Occasionally they would have to confront skeletons or other monsters and so together they left a bloody trail of dead bodies behind. It made for hard work.

Finally, after Amber almost fell into a pool of bubbling lava, they decided it was best to turn back. Easier said then done. The complex they had entered stretched for miles in every direction. Following their torches as best as they could they found one of the bigger caves they had come upon on in their search for materials. Apart from their footsteps echoing softly on the stony ground, the silence felt heavy like too thick a blanket. Suddenly Rythian stopped dead in his tracks and cursed.

"What?" Amber turned to see what had got his attention and saw the enderman. It just stood there facing the far wall, tall and thin with a small shower of particles streaming of its torso every time it moved slightly. Rythian was already charging at the thing, pickaxe raised high, murder in his eyes. At the first impact the enderman screamed and teleported to the opposite side of the cave, the furious mage hard on its trail. The fight was fast and brutal. The end creature managed to land a few painful hits, but didn't seem to have much of an advantage when it used its teleporting skills. Amber noticed that whichever place the thing turned up, the fighting whirlwind that was Rythian had already changed direction to follow. She could just watch in amazement as the two danced through the cavern, two pairs of purple eyes flashing, connecting and spinning apart in mad patterns. And as quickly as it had begun, it ended. One last swing at the enderman's bloody torso and it collapsed, leaving one last eerie scream echoing through the tunnels as its corpse vanished.

"Wow. What was that all about?" Amber lowered her pick she had hefted tightly during the fight, ready to defend herself. Now she looked the mage up and down with something of a mixed expression on her face.

Rythian was breathing hard but apart from the gash on his left shoulder where the enderman had managed to break through his defence and a small cut across his right forearm he seemed more than ready to start the whole thing all over again.

"I hate those damned things. Come on. Let's get out of here," he said, marching off at a brisk pace. Amber followed.

Back at their camp they had to build themselves a double chest to hold all the ores and materials they had mined. Amber put up a second furnace and filled them both up with coal and ores.

"Here, take this," Rythian handed her a newly made ruby sword. He had already made himself one out of the emeralds they had found.

"Tomorrow I will have to go down into the crater. And I will be going alone. It will probably take most of the day."

Amber shrugged. "I could go hunting and scouting the area bit. I'm a pretty good shot with the bow. Might need a little practice to get the feeling for this one though." She took the old bow out of the chest and drew it testily. "It's not as powerful as my old one but still in reasonable shape."

"You have it then. I'm more of a swordsman anyway."

They settled for the night. Ryhtian made himself comfortable on the ground and Amber took the bed after much eye-rolling and muttering how she wasn't made of glass, which resulted in eye-rolling on Rythian's side and muttering about women always finding a way to twist politeness into an insult.

Amber gave a snort. "Good night, Rythian."

"Good night, Amber." _Good night Zoey, wherever you are. I hope you are safe._

–

The next morning, after a small breakfast of yet more freshly caught fish, Amber tried herself on the bow. When she was satisfied with her aim, she prepared to set off on a day of scouting.

"You are off then?" Rythian stood at the edge of the crater looking out towards the west. Amber came to stand next to him and nodded.

"Try not to get lost. There are some very deep caves around here, most of them to the north. The forests stretch for miles around here, apart from the big lakes to the east and west of here. But as long as you can see this mountain here with the beacon on top, or any beacon really, you should be able to find your way back."

She rolled her eyes at him. "I have been wandering the wilderness for months now, with a knife as my only weapon, I know how to navigate and this land is pretty tame compared to where I come from, believe me."

Rythian held up his hands. "If you say so. But I won't be able to come looking for you after dark, just so you know. Oh, and try to avoid drawing attention to yourself..." he was going to say more but to judge by the look on her face she was just about fed up with good advice already.

"Can I go now? _Master_?"

"Don't..." He sighed. "You know this is serious. And I stick to my word. You _are_ my apprentice and that means _I am_ your master. I would appreciate it if you didn't make light of it."

"Hold on right there, mister. I agreed to an apprenticeship in magic, not how to live my life. So if you are thinking to boss me around in anything other that magic, you can damn well think again!" She stood there arms crossed, head held high and eyes ablaze. He shook his head.

"I am not bossing you around! I'm just trying to help and keep you alive_, _Notch dammit! Can't you -"

"I can keep myself alive, thank you very much. So far I seem to do a better job of it, don't you think?" Turning around, she stormed away without another glance. Soon she was hidden between the trees.

"Fair enough." Rythian said to no-one in particular. "Okay, back to work. Let's see if I can salvage any computers from down there."

Getting to the lower levels was quite difficult, now that he couldn't fly anymore. By the time he made it to the tunnels that were left of Zoey's lab, he was slightly out of breath. _I guess that's what I get from relying on magic for everything. Hell, I need to get into shape. _He had brought some torches, placing them around the caves. Suddenly an arrow zipped past him. He ducked and started running in a zigzag towards the cause - a skeleton archer. He hadn't brought any weapons, so he swung a torch at its skull knocking it back a step. He didn't waste time and kicked the monster full in its ribcage. It stumbled but managed to knock another arrow. Rythian dove into a forwards roll, the missile passing harmlessly over him, and crashed into the skeleton torch first, taking it down. The satisfying noise of crunching bones greeted his fist as he punched at its arm holding the bow. The other arm grabbed at his throat, but he got hold of it and pushed himself away and up. "Just fucking die already!" he growled. He stomped on a shoulder blade, the disarrayed pile of bones twitched violently until he grabbed its neck and twisted the wretched skull right off.

Catching his breath, Rythian shook his throbbing wrist, droplets of blood flying off where he had scraped skin of his knuckles during the short but brutal fight. He scanned his surroundings, searching the shadows for more mobs, but he was alone. He placed the last few torches along the walls and kept only one as he made his way deeper into the tunnel systems. He found the steps down to the server room, the iron door and alarm now missing. A huge pile of rubble and debris was blocking half the staircase, but further down the walls and ceiling seemed intact. He stepped carefully, listening to any noise from below, but apart from a faint dripping of water in the distance there was only silence. At the bottom of the stairway the room full of monitors was dark and the air smelled of decay and acid. _So... where to start. This could take some time. I might not be a computer expert, but I know I will need power if I want to kick these back to life. _He could see the cables running along the walls and ceiling, most of them intact. He tapped at the lamp closest to the entrance and it flickered dimly before it went dark again. _Right, so there is still some juice in there somewhere, just no contact, lets see... _Rythian searched the room. He checked ever chest next to every monitor. Most only had useless stuff inside, a block of dirt, some mushrooms, a sapling... he took an empty bottle and a bucket out of one and went back up stairs, rooted around in the half demolished lab until he found what he had been looking for. A worn and dented BAT-box. _Good. Let's do some science. _With a wry grin he set to work on rebuilding Zoey's server room...

–

Amber stormed through the thicket making as much noise as a horde of pigmen on fire. _Who does he think he is? My father? _She forcefully pushed past some low hanging branches, breaking them with a loud snap. It echoed through the otherwise quiet forest.

"Great. Every creature within ten miles is going to go into hiding. Bloody Rythian, bloody trees!"

She fell into a light jog. _Better cover some ground then._ She got to the sandy beach of a rather big lake and decided to try her hunting luck on the other side. Putting down a crafting bench, she quickly assembled a small boat and started rowing across. It took almost an hour and she felt out of breath and slightly shaky when she got to the other shore. Her legs felt heavy and her stomach grumbled. Her anger forgotten, she walked into the green, enjoying the peace and quiet and fresh air.

Apart from the odd rustling of small animals in the underbrush and the faint twittering of little birds the world seemed to be asleep out here. A breeze went through the lush canopy, making the leaves whisper. Amber wished she had gone up the mountains instead, where the air would have been even fresher and the wind stronger. She missed the feel of turbulent gusts tugging and pulling her hair and clothes. Back home... back home in the skycapital a day without a stiff breeze would have given people a heart attack.

Suddenly a bird burst through the brush right in front of her chittering angrily. Amber laughed out loud realising she had her sword drawn and ready to defend herself – from a bird! And her eyes lit up when she recognised the kind of bush the little blackbird had just evacuated with all haste.

"Blueberries!" she laughed. Looking around she could see more bushes full with ripe berries. How had she almost walked past all this free food? She started picking with one hand and eating with the other. It tasted divine. She couldn't remember when she had last eaten something so sweet. _Better not overdo it though._ After filling her stomach to some degree at least she kept walking, more alert.

At a small stream that seemed just deep enough to soak her up to her knees had she waded in, but was narrow enough to jump across, she washed the blueberry juice off her hands and face before refilling her waterskin. There was a small hill close by, she could see the trees were sparse that way, giving room to an ancient oak tree on top of the hill. It was a perfect opportunity to get a better view from above, so she jumped over the stream and made for the oak. The closer she got, the more awed she felt. It had looked huge from across the edge of the forest, but standing underneath its mighty branches, its bark deeply furrowed and the slight wind making its wooden limbs creak with every gust, Amber felt almost overwhelmed. This tree might as well have been here from the beginning of the world.

She nestled her bow between two massive roots and started climbing. The thick bark gave plenty of hand and foot holds until she could reach the lowest branches. From there it was almost too easy. At the highest point she could see for miles across the deep forest that stretched up to the mountains to the south and to the blue lake she had crossed, also another, bigger lake to the west. To the east seemed to be low grass plains and soft hills and further south-east... some blocky structure, dark against the clear skies. _That must be man-made surely._ She squinted at it but couldn't make out much. It seemed to be a tower of some sort. She also noticed that it was well past mid-day and high time to be on the way back if she wanted to make it before dark. "I better had," she muttered, starting the long way down.

She had had a good view and knew roughly where she was now. The easier and most likely quicker way would be to drift east a little before turning south, so she could run across the plains instead of fighting her way through the dense forests again. Picking up her bow she gave the oak one last glance before breaking into a light footed run home.

–


	5. Chapter 5 - A Mess

**Chapter 5 – A Mess**

The next day passed and Amber hadn't returned. Rythian decided he had to find her before someone else did. He had sharpened the sword and made himself a bow but he still felt naked without his magic. Going back to where Amber had left him at the south edge of the crater he looked for her trail. It didn't take him long to find it. In fact it was so obvious he began to wonder if she had meant to leave signs for him to follow her.He covered her tracks as he went, smudging muddy foot prints, removing and hiding broken branches and wiping dirt of dry stones. _A blind man could follow this track! Even someone like Duncan couldn't miss this! What had she been thinking? _

The trail went around the swamp, through the forest winding this way and that way. He got to the lake, found her crafting bench and made himself a boat, rowing straight across. On the other side he quickly found her tracks again, leading into the nearby forests. At a massive lone oak it doubled back and then swerved in a more eastern direction. It was well past midday when he stumbled onto a small clearing. He could see faint signs of a struggle, but someone seemed to have tried to hide the signs. And there was dried blood. _Oh crap. _Then he found the pig. She had hid it in a ditch covered with dead branches and ferns. _Phew. Well, there will be a feast tonight. _He sniffed. _Yeah better use that up as soon as possible, I've seen fresher meat. Why didn't she come back with it though? Or come back to ask me for help to carry it back together? _He searched the clearing further and found her tracks leading further east towards the edge of the forest.

A nagging suspicion formed in his mind. He had been on the move for some time now and he was sure to be way out of his old territory. It had been a while since he had been in the area and Rythian felt he needed a quick overview before he accidentally stumbled into someone else's land. At times like this he sorely missed his flying ring. Everything was so much easier if you had a flying ring.

Instead he picked out a tall fir tree and started climbing. Soon he was high enough to see the forest spread beneath him and he could make out two beacons that marked the old territory to the far south... which meant... _Oh crap! I fuckin' knew it! _He turned.

It wasn't what he had expected to see. What he _had_ expected to see was a tall castle like structure, towers and turrets, high walls and of course the ridiculously huge telescope. What he found instead was a pile of burned out ruins, hardly a brick left from the enormous building and - _What the...? _It seemed to be raining in a small area right above the centre of the ruins. But that wasn't the strangest thing. He had never before seen so many wisps in one place. And so many different varieties. It could only mean one thing.

He chuckled. Duncan must have lost control over a large amount of vis. He had created himself a ticking time bomb of pure flux. And it seemed it had exploded in his precious castle! Rythian laughed. A rich and deep laughter that surprised him at first. When was the last time he had had reason to laugh? He laughed at his own surprise. And he drank in the view in front of him. It was hilarious! He couldn't help himself, he chuckled and giggled and laughed so hard, holding his side, gasping for breath. Until he almost fell out of his tree. He didn't care. Nothing could possibly spoil this moment for him... _If only Zoey could see this!_ That thought sobered him up a little. It couldn't quite quench his mirth though.

"Ah, the joy of having overly confident enemies!" He chuckled again and shook his head. He had warned him. Several times. There was no way you could harness the powers of magic with science and machines! But would he listen? _Obviously not._

"The question now is though, did he survive this destruction? I wonder if he re-spawned in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the last image of his exploding castle in his mind! Ha!"

He made his way back down, eager to take a closer look at Duncan's ruined castle.

– earlier, same location. –

Amber emerged from the trees and ran around a little lake out onto the rolling plains. Without slowing she scaled the first little hillock - and stopped dead in her tracks.

Atop another little hill a small cloud was hovering... The scene before her made the impression of an abandoned battle field. Rocks strewn far and wide, bricks outlining where maybe one or maybe several buildings might have stood at some point, water gushing from what looked like the leftovers of a once beautiful fountain and a little further to her the right a square block probably the only thing untouched by the destruction.

Then she spotted the giant snakelike beast lazing between the boulders. A Naga. White hot rage gripped her. Amber drew her sword and without hesitation charged the monster, teeth bared and roaring. The Naga slowly turned towards her as she advanced in huge leaps and bounds. At the last moment she dodged to the side and used a nearby boulder as a step to jump onto the beast's back. It twisted around immediately and Amber drove her sword deep into its scaly hide, clinging on with all her strength to stay atop. The Naga hissed and snapped at her but couldn't reach the unwanted rider so close to the neck. It lashed out with its powerful tail instead, sweeping it across its own back like a horse would sweep away an irritating fly. Amber ducked and clung close to the monster, holding onto its tough scales and her sword, avoiding the mighty swing by the breadth of a hair. She drew her dagger using it and the sword alternatively to dig into the monsters back and pulling herself ever closer to its massive head. All the while the beast writhed and buckled, making hissing and spitting sounds. Realising that it wouldn't get rid of the two-legs that easily it changed to a new tactic. With a last giant effort to throw its attacker, it then rolled onto its back meaning to crush the irritating human instead. It almost succeeded. At a cost it hadn't expected. Amber realised its intention and threw herself off the Naga's back at the last moment avoiding the death-trap, losing her advantage and her dagger. The blade buried itself deep into the beast's neck and it screeched in agony. Sword still in hand Amber rolled to break her fall and came up ready to defend herself. The Naga, still busy trying to figure out how to rid itself of the searing pain in its neck, didn't put up much of a fight then as Amber drove her sword through the monsters throat deep into its skull.

A few last convulsive twitches and the Naga lay still.

Amber was breathing hard, cold sweat was making her shiver in the evening air, even though she felt far too hot. Stepping closer to retrieve her dagger she noticed the strange wounds and the purple tinged blotches criss-crossing the Naga's body. _Strange._ _It must have fought against someone or something with magic maybe? _She had never come across anything like it. It would explain the relatively easy victory. And why it had been so slow to respond to the attack.

She shivered. Slicing away at the tough hide, Amber managed to finally free her dagger. It was covered in Naga blood and stank.

"Blergh."

She was about to head back to the lake to wash off the gore when a glowing red sphere appeared from behind one of the boulders.

"Oh shit!"

Her reflexes didn't manage to saver her this time and a small bolt of energy hit her right in the chest. It knocked her off balance and she landed on her backside gasping. The sword was as good as useless against a wisp she she swapped it for her bow as she rolled away to dodge another attack. Coming up to kneel awkwardly she drew and let fly – and missed.

"Notch dammit," knocking another arrow Amber jumped up and raced for cover, ducking behind what looked like a piece of brick wall. She could hear the strange otherworldly noise the wisp made as it came closer. Amber tried to calm her racing heart and frantic breathing before she jumped out, aimed carefully and let fly. This time she hit and knocked the wisp back and the energy bolt aimed at her struck the wall instead. Her next arrow struck true as well giving her even more space and a few precious seconds to grab another arrow.

Then something hit her in the back sending her sprawling, feeling dizzy. She had lost her arrow. Scrambling back to her feet and dancing away, Amber hastily took out another one. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and fired. It hit a green wisp. The red wisp reappeared and shot another bolt at her. She dodged it and fired again. It exploded in a shower of tiny sparkles. Amber spun around watching the other wisp wearily. _Green wisps shouldn't attack, should they? _It shot a bolt of energy at her but from so far away it gave Amber plenty of time to avoid being hit. She knocked another arrow and took aim carefully before firing. It struck home. She sent another one flying and the green wisp exploded. _Thank Notch for that._ She quickly checked her remaining arrows. It was getting darker as the sun started to set. _Crap. Crappedy crap crap. I'm not staying here! _

She felt so tired all of a sudden. And no wonder, after running most of the day, the intense fight and no proper meal for days. The strange cloud hovering over the top of the hill made her nervous. It wasn't natural. It either rained or it didn't. It didn't just rain on one small spot.

Suddenly a new chiming noise behind her made her duck behind the wall again. Another wisp had appeared. Amber risked a quick peek. A purple one. _This is bad._ She quickly checked her arrows again. The wispy noise was getting closer. She looked around for more cover. The ruins further up were probably her best option to avoid the wisp. She didn't hesitate and made a dash for it. However just as she reached the biggest piles of rubble two more wisps appeared right in front of her. She yelped and zigzagged past them, hoping to outrun the nasty buggers.

In her hast to get away she hadn't paid much attention to the terrain and found herself in a dead end. And it was raining here. There was no time to dig through the bricks or make a few simple steps to climb over – she would get bombarded from all sides by energy strikes. Amber frantically searched the area for a hiding hole, a way out, anything. A bolt of energy hit her in the shoulder pushing her and making her stumble forward. She gasped and shook her head to clear her vision. Ahead and to her right were the leftovers of a staircase down underground. She ran for it. Another bolt hit her square in the back. She nearly tumbled down the broken steps catching herself on the wall and whipped around quickly blocking up the entrance with dirt.

It was pitch black. She slumped down catching her breath and straining to listen out for any movement below. Nothing. _Creepers? _She fumbled for a torch and hastily placed a few around the walls. There was nothing to see. Just broken bricks and a room at the bottom of the stairs. Amber took a few deep breaths and then examined her burns. The one on her shoulder felt quite bad but she couldn't reach it. They wouldn't kill her but it still hurt. From the noises coming from behind her dirt wall it sounded like at least half a dozen wisps out there.

"Seems I will make camp here tonight. Shit. Never gonna hear the end if it when I get back," she muttered.

At the bottom of the stairs Amber found herself in what looked like a wine cellar. Wooden barrels lining both walls, the first two broken and they gave the cellar a strong sour smell. It made her feel even more sickly and more than a bit dizzy. The next few were intact and she read the signs above them:

"'Lite Dark Dragonblood', 'Strong Dragonblood', 'Rum'. Okay. I guess this used to be some alcoholics home."

She added a couple of extra torches around the room to prevent any mobs spawning but kept going down another set of stairs at the back of the room to explore and put some distance between herself and the somewhat annoying sounds the wisps outside were making as well as the bad smell. The stairs were unlit and that was strange. _Who would build something and leave it in the dark?_ So she lit them up as they wound further and further down.

At last she came to a metal door. There was a leaver. Amber pulled it and the door opened. The room behind it was crudely made out of dirt and stone but well lit at least. There was a chest and a furnace and three wooden doors one on each side. She checked the chest. _Naga heads, some cobblestone, rotten flesh, a few torches, a few trip wire hooks, string, gun powder and -_

"What the hell does a tesla coil do? And what's an invert cell?"

She took the torches and left the rest where it was. And then a wave of nausea hit her. The room seemed to be spinning round and round. Closing her eyes didn't make it any better. Amber stumbled towards a wall and threw up. As quickly as the feeling had overwhelmed her, it disappeared.

"Whoa, what the fuck?"

She wiped her mouth and tried to wash the taste out with some water out of her waterskin. With a last glance around, she then decided it was high time to leave and find a way out, maybe one of those underground tunnels led away from the ruins and the waiting wisps. She picked the far door opposite the iron one she had come in through. Behind it was a low tunnel, sparsely lit, but she followed it anyway. Coming past a few doors, some wood, some iron, her curiosity finally took over and she opened one and entered a more natural tunnel. It was uneven and full of niches and large blocks covering the ground. There was water flowing somewhere in the distance and the lighting was even poorer than the other tunnel.

As she was just turning back she heard a skeleton behind her. Drawing her sword and jumping aside aside in one fluid motion, Amber waited with her back pressed against the stone for the monster to appear. And it did.

But instead of a bow it held a stone sword. Ambers eyes grew wide with shock. She hacked wildly at the tall dark skeleton knowing full well that she wouldn't get away unscratched or maybe even alive. Wither skeletons were faster, taller, stronger and more brutal than their over-worldly cousins. On top of that just being close to one could sap you of your life-force, making you 'wither' away. It was affecting her already, slowing her down and taking the strength out of her blows. She blocked a strike that would have taken her head off and landed a brutal hit across the skeletons upper body – at the cost of being smacked against her exposed side. Some of the force had been taken out of that strike by her counter attack, but it felt like a few ribs might have cracked and breathing suddenly became rather difficult.

Amber screamed her rage at the monster. As the room started spinning again and she felt another wave of nausea washing over her on top of the pain and her exhaustion from the previous fights, the desperation and her helplessness hit her like a hammer blow. She knew she wasn't going to win this with weapon skills and willpower alone.

The ruby sword became hot in her hands. Her next swing carried on cutting right through the bones and severed an arm clean off the wither skeleton. It still kept coming at her with harsh cuts and swings but the draining feeling of her life being sapped out of her ebbed away.

Finding new strength, Amber redoubled her efforts, slashing left and right blocking the stone sword until finally she saw an opening and smashed the now glowing red hot sword through the dark skull which practically exploded into hundreds of little shards.

Amber didn't wait for any more monsters to appear. She turned, sprinting for the door and managed just about slam it shut before her strength left her. With her back against the wall she slumped down, her breathing coming ragged and sweat pouring down her neck. Pure exhaustion made her want to just closer her eyes and sleep, instead he pushed herself off the wall and blocked off the passage both ways with some stone blocks. A couple of torches kept her enclosed area well lit.

It wasn't the best place for a nap but the walls would keep any unwanted visitors at bay and she needed to sleep... just sleep...

–

Footsteps. Amber jerked awake. Confused and disorientated, but with the nagging feeling of dread and danger, she rolled away from her spot at the wall and jumped up, hand already reaching for her swo-

- everything went upside down and she fell. Not far, as she just about managed a shriek before the ground rushed to meet her. It took her breath away and the sudden impact left her stunned, seeing stars.

Someone snickered, far away. Amber pushed herself up. The floor was white as marble, reflecting the surrounding light, making it look so bright it was making her eyes water. It definitely wasn't the low dim tunnel she had collapsed in earlier.


	6. Chapter 6 - Mistakes

**Chapter 6 -** **Mistakes**

"Hello?"

Amber could hear the footsteps again that had ripped her out of her sleep, or possibly unconsciousness. Someone was getting closer with long, confident strides. She looked around. The room was rather spacious and the light came from white lamps set into the ceiling - as well as faint red glowing lines on the floor surrounding her in a six by six block square. There was also an oval shaped light right above her head, glowing yellowish and wavering out of existence just as she was inspecting it.

A door to her left suddenly opened and a tall blond man, wearing a rather stained, at some point probably white lab coat, entered, grinning from ear to ear.

"Hello there," he stopped just outside the red line on the floor. "Oh, that's interesting, lucky me that I've added the anti-teleporting to the tesla-cage prototype, hmm?"

"Uhm, I didn't understand much from what you just said, apart from 'cage'" she eyed the red lines around her suspiciously, "and I don't like that bit. Who are you? Is this your place? I'm sorry I just barged in, but there are a couple of pissed off wisps outside and Notch knows what else and it was getting dark, so I didn't really have time to knock and wait and see if anybody was at home. So, yeah, sorry for just stomping around your place."

The man just kept staring at her and grinning. It was unnerving her. Her hands wandered to her belt, but her sword had gone, as well has her dagger and bow.

He leaned a bit closer and she took a small step back.

"Don't worry, I think you will be making up for it quite nicely. Hmm. Interesting. Yes, I noticed the wisps. Annoying aren't they? Not much use at all. And I also noticed you killed my last Naga. That's a shame really, I was going to use it's strength, but you are here now, so that will have to do, won't it?"

"What?"

Amber wasn't at all sure if the man in front of her was actually sane. Not much of what he was talking about made sense. And she still didn't know how she seemed to have dropped through a ceiling. She took another cautious step back, he must have taken her weapons while she was still only half conscious and without any armour Amber felt rather exposed in this strange place. Especially since she hadn't quite recovered yet.

"I didn't know the Naga was your pet. I'm sorry, but it would have killed me! Now, I don't know what you wanted it to do for you, but I'm not really in any shape for hard work at the moment. I can repay you some other day, but I really need to be going now, so if you could point me to an exit and give me back my weapons, I would appreciate it."

He had been circling her slowly with a calculating expression on his face. She noticed he had a pair of cracked safety goggles hanging around his neck and some of the dark stains looked suspiciously like dried blood.

"Hmm. No. I don't think so. No. Where would be the fun in that? Come here, I need some of your blood. Lets see what the analyser says," he searched his many pockets and pulled out a huge syringe, a glass phial and another small object.

"You are insane!" Amber stared at him incredulously, then started to make for the door, giving the madman a wide birth, "I'm going to leave without-"

All she saw was a flash of red as she was flung backwards and hit the marbled floor hard. She managed a groan, the shocks of energy still pulsing through her left her twitching uncontrollably but otherwise unable to move. There was a noise. And then again. She had never heard anything like it before.

"It works! Amazing! Hehe. See this needle here?" His face appeared in her field of vision. "I made it for the Naga, but well, you killed it of course."

Amber felt a hand grabbing her arm and a sharp pain as he stabbed the needle into it. Her groan turned into a wordless snarl. She tried moving her arm, but it wouldn't budge. He finally let go and disappeared again, leaving her lying on the floor in her pain and rage. The noise came again. Just once and then the sound of busy movements and clattering. Gradually the spasms subsided. She waited until she was sure to have full control over her body before she moved her head just ever so slightly. There were two oval shapes emitting light on the far wall, one yellow, the other purple.

The man in his lab coat stood with his back to her leaning over a workbench, watching something with great interest. Every now and then he scribbled a few notes, rearranged the device and then just stood watching it.

Amber checked her arm. Blood was trickling out of the hole the crude needle had left and slowly pooling underneath her. It had already left a dark wet patch on her sleeve. She pressed her hand over it and sat up slowly. The red lines around her pulsed ever so slightly, seemingly in time with the pulses of pain still throbbing through her body. _Some sort of force-field then. What did he called it? Tesla-cage. Sick bastard._

She caught the odd word of what he was muttering but she mostly concentrated on finding a way

out.

"New breed? …resistance, makes sense... 'origin not found', fucking useless..."

It went on and on. Amber took out a block of dirt and pushed it quietly towards the glowing line. As it was only inches away she gave it a quick shove. It hit the line, the light flared up and it bounced off and smacked her in the stomach.

"Ouch!"

"Yes, I have made it so it repels anything touching it from the inside. From the outside however," he threw a block of dirt at her and it flew through unhindered, landing next to her. "It offers no resistance. Pretty handy I think."

He pulled up a chair and made himself comfortable with the small device in his hand.

"Now, I need you to tell me a few things about yourself. You must be some sort of new design, there are no matches in my database. So what exactly _are_ you?"

"What is this? Why are you doing this? _What _are you doing? You really think I'm going to tell you whatever you want to know because you've got me trapped in this invisible box?"

He smiled. "I think you will tell me when I start looking for the answers I want - my way. Everybody does sooner or later. But I will give you a second chance because I feel in a generous mood. What _are_ you?"

Amber stared hatefully into the madman's cold, blue eyes. She kept her silence.

"Okay. Might take a little longer but at least I won't get bored. Gives me a chance to test a few things I have been working on as well. Good. Very good."

Striding around the perimeter of her cage he pulled out some sort of remote, pressing a combination of buttons.

"Now this is my latest toy. It is tuned to control the tesla-cage and can do a variety of tricks. I can change the size and shape like so" he flicked a little switch at the side and the lines jumped simultaneously, making the space now a five by five block square. Amber scrambled towards the middle and stood up. She was not about to give that lunatic the satisfaction of letting on how scared she was, so she crossed her arms and gave him a defiant stare as he walked around her. She didn't turn as he kept walking out of her field of vision, pressing more buttons.

"Or even the hight like this."

There was a low humming noise now. Red lines had appeared a block or so above her head, matching the square on the floor. Amber tried not to flinch back. _I'm going to kill that son of a bitch. He will make a mistake. And then I am going to kill him. He will make a mistake._

"Not impressed? Okay. Even when I do... this?"

The cage shrunk to the size of four blocks. Amber felt her breathing quicken, the terror of her situation stuck in her throat. She didn't want to experience the painful shock waves pulsing through her muscles again, but there was just no way to stop him. She couldn't reach him and she knew that even if she told him whatever it was he wanted to hear, it would only make her less useful to him. Her heart was racing as she feverishly tried to think of a way out. Anything. Would the energy kill her if she touched it for too long? A quick death was still better than a slow and painful one. She would re-spawn after all. _No. I am not that desperate. Yet. He is going to make a mistake. He will._

"Now I know how painful the shocks are, I tested and measured them of course. Too much of it could be fatal. So I will tune it a bit, shall I? We wouldn't want you to die now would we?"

_Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit! _

"Ah, I can see I was just a step ahead of you there. So, I changed it, how about you try it out? No? Come on don't be spoilsport! Try it!"

"You fucking sick piece of shit! This is a game to you? You are disgusting! When I am out of here I'm going to hunt you down like the rabid dog you are! I will – aaargh!"

He had pressed something on the remote and the cage shrank to the width of two blocks. Her shoulders were touching the edges. She was caught in a curtain of searing hot pain, but couldn't move away. In fact she couldn't move much at all! It was as if she was connecting both sides of the energy cube and the force kept her upright, pulling her arms towards the edges even though she put all her strength and willpower into breaking free.

"See? You should have tried it when I said, might just have caught you by your fingertips instead of both your arms. And now back to the original shape, because that's when you see how clever this force-field actually is! Watch!"

Amber didn't reply. Grinding her teeth to keep from screaming she barely managed to lift her head enough to see her captor step away and then the cage growing back to its former size. It felt as if her arms were being pulled out of her sockets. She howled. There was just no holding back. She screamed, tears of rage and pain streaming down her face.

"You know, it has enough power to rip your arms out but it keeps it automatically just below that point to not cause any physical damage!"

He had to shout to make his voice heard. Even so Amber barely registered that someone was talking to her at all. Her world had shrunk to the point that it consisted of nothing but the burning sensation and the pulling. It could have lasted a few seconds. Or eternity. When it stopped she dropped to the ground, sobbing, not caring what happened next as long as it didn't go back to touching the edges. Amber hadn't thought of herself as weak, or soft but she knew it would break her sooner rather than later if she tried to resist further. If he could keep her at the brink of unconsciousness for as long as he wanted to without killing her – it was a thought she couldn't bring herself to follow further.

"Tired already? Come on! I thought Enderborn were made of tougher stuff! How about a little break from the tesla-cage and try this little beauty instead?"

He squatted down and rolled something into the cage. A bottle. It rolled towards her, dark liquid sloshing inside.

Amber pushed herself up onto her knees.

"What – what do you want to know?" her throat was raw from screaming, but she had no desire to find out what the content of that bottle would do to her if she drank it.

"Oh it is too late for that now, my little Enderborn. I will ask my questions again when I am done experimenting," the blond chuckled, "and I love to experiment with new subjects. It's so exciting! Different results every time! New tests to develop, various interesting traits to separate and refine, chipping away at the useless abilities... and sometimes someone like you comes along and – what a challenge! Whole new possibilities open up! Oh, I just can't wait to get started!"

_Get started?! Fuck! I need to get out! I don't want to live like this for the rest of my life!_

His face suddenly turned from a maniacal grin to a threatening stare.

"Now pick up that potion and tell me what it does."

Panic threatened to overwhelm her. She picked up the bottle with shaking hands and stared at it.

"I don't want to. Please. Just ask me something! I will tell you want you want to know, just ask me! I don't want to..." she whispered.

"I don't like repeating myself, little Enderborn. But if you really don't want to do this," he pressed a string of buttons on his remote, "I am more than happy to help you."

The cage had shrunk again. One block wide, two blocks high. The way she knelt kept her from touching the edges but it didn't leave her any room to move. She looked up fearfully into the blonds icy blue eyes as he reached through the barrier, snatching the bottle from her and uncorked it before holding it right in front of her face. She automatically tried to lean away from it, grabbing hold of his wrist, but then thought better of it. Whatever effects this potion had on her, it couldn't be worse than what she had been through already. And it wasn't as if she had much of a choice anyway.

It tasted vile. And it made her already sore throat burn. Nothing... then pain in her stomach, she doubled over clutching at her middle, gasping.

"Ah, so that would be the venom. Shame, I thought you might be resistant to poisons. All right, next up..."

Amber looked up, expecting another bottle, but her torturer just sat on his chair with a clipboard, an expectant, no, almost hungry look on his face.

Then he started wobbling. The walls, something was wrong with them as well. It all seemed to move in waves. What had happened to the colours? She tried to stand up. It was like trying to balance on the deck of a ship in a storm. The floor kept moving away and then towards her, at the same time it wouldn't stop changing colours. She closed her eyes, taking hold of her head with both hands, as if that could stop everything else from moving if only she could stay still. Amber lost her balance and fell hard.

"Yeah, yeah, disorientation, not that interesting really. What else?"

This time Amber stayed put. There was no gain from stumbling around and hurting herself. She opened her eyes. The room was still moving a bit. Her heart was hammering in her chest. _What else? How much worse can it get?_ She waited, tense. Nothing? A sigh of relieve escaped her.

"What? What? Tell, me Enderborn! What do you feel? Look at me, dammit!"

She glared at him, cursing him... or she tried to at least. Opening her mouth, but no sound came out. Panic gripped her in an instant. She couldn't breathe! She had breathed out, but nothing came back! Amber fumbled at her face, tried to make sense of what was happening. There was nothing physically there. Why couldn't she breathe?! Her chest became tight. She could hear her blood pounding in her ears, still she clawed at her mouth, her throat, nothing! She wanted to scream.

"Ohh! That's more like it! Suffocation from the inside! One of my best creations! The more the victim thrashes around, the quicker it will kill! You see? Your body needs more oxygen the more you move, so if it was a weak potion you can just hold your breath until it wears off, but obviously you don't know how long it will last and most of my test subjects managed to kill themselves in less than a minute just by panicking. Idiots."

Amber could barely hear what he was saying. The throbbing of her frantic heartbeat in her ears was drowning out all other sounds. She got tunnel vision, the pain was immense. She was going to die now...

… then air rushed into her aching lungs. She was drawing in air frantically, paranoid it might stop again any moment. Like a fish on land, she just lay there, gasping until her head started spinning.

"Please," she managed to whisper between breaths, "please stop."

He chuckled.

"Even if I could, why should I? This is far to amusing to watch! Now, I think the next one could be a bit tricky,"

Amber saw a flash and then something smashed right next to her head. Her body reacted instantly. She felt the pain fade little by little. But not all of it.

"This healing potion should keep you alive through the next and last one, I think."

She rolled over and got on all fours, leaving bloody marks on the white floor. Her hands were covered in blood from when she had scratched and clawed at her throat and face. Her clothes had blood stains all over, but at least her wounds had closed, thanks to the healing potion.

_What now?_ Nothing happened. She tensed. The silence stretched. She glanced at her captor. He was leaning forward, staring.

Drip.

A smile spread across his face. Amber couldn't figure out what he had noticed. She couldn't feel anything. There was nothing different...

Drip.

She looked at her hands. Blood was dripping onto the floor as she lifted them. _No, wait. What the - ?_ She was sweating. A lot. First tiny beads appeared on her arms, her hands. She felt them forming all over her skin.

Drip, drop.

"What? What is this? What is happening?!" She looked up. He was frowning now. Why?

"That can't be right. Something... hmm, maybe -" he leafed through the papers on his clipboard, mumbling and muttering to himself. Amber felt more frightened by the second. What was happening? Had he made a mistake? Sweat was now running off her body. It got into her eyes, her mouth. Strange, it didn't taste like sweat.

"I had this right! It was perfect! Pure water! What have you done Enderborn?! Why aren't you screaming?! Tell me!"

She just stared at him, her mouth dry, uncomprehending. Then it dawned on her. Water. She wasn't sweating. Water was sucked out of her body! It was supposed to hurt her, but it didn't.

That madman had tried to hurt her and for once he had failed! He had made a mistake. Somehow. How could she turn this to her advantage? She quickly checked her surroundings. He was pacing in front of the cage, raging, throwing his notes around. Their eyes met. She quickly looked down, trying to look helpless and beaten, but he had noticed.

"Having fun in there, are we?" he hissed, fumbling for his remote.

"No! Please, I -" she cut off with a piercing scream as the red barrier touched her all across her body.

Red. Nothing but red. No escape. Pain beyond imagination. The eerie, almost deafening noise. Her screams? Endless, burning pain. The taste of blood in her mouth...

Had it ended? Was she in pain? Amber didn't know. The noise slowly changed into a wheezing. Yes, she was in pain, but she could make out different sources. Her raw throat, her aching, cramping muscles, the burning of her skin. It was almost a relief to feel separate parts of her body in different amounts of pain. She sobbed. A relief. How had it come to this so quickly? Or maybe it _had_ been days. She didn't know. She didn't care. She felt broken. It was never going to stop, the burning. She knew. Never.

Someone was breathing hard, nearby. The man in the lab coat. The man with the remote.

"Now. Enderborn," he took a deep breath, "anything you would like to tell me? Anything?"

_Anything. Any way out. But not the burning! Burning like fire. Fire... _

"Fire..." she whispered between sobs.

The air became like the inside of a furnace, swirling tendrils of smoke appearing all around her. How could she have forgotten about her magic? It was as if the place itself had stopped her from even thinking about it. But she remembered. The pretend games, the accidents, the firestorm.

"What the...? What are you doing? What – stop that! Stop it right now! I'm warning you!"

And then the fire came.

Blazing, roaring, filling her cage. It was hers. She had never felt so in control. It was part of her like her aching arms or her throbbing head. She willed it into a shape, a flaming arrow, white hot tipped and threw it at the blond, putting all her anger into it, imagining it burning him to a crisp on the spot.

All her hurt, all her hate, all her want to break free went into the effort. The heat built up and the arrow exploded into a hundred fiery trails quickly forming an unbroken wall around her. She could hear screams but was unable to see anything else apart from the swirling patterns of red, orange and yellow, the flames dancing all around her, filling ever inch of the cage without burning her -

Of course it wasn't burning her! How could it? It was hers. And it meant life! She suddenly understood with a clarity that there was no reason to fear her own powers and never had been. How stupid to be afraid of a part that was her, as much as any other! As well be scared of your own body!

Joy filled her at the revelation. She finally knew what she was, what she had never even wanted to ask herself. Why people stared at her, why here eyes were purple. Why her parents – she corrected herself – her adoptive parents had left the capital...

Letting herself be consumed by the magic she felt whole. Almost. The powers pulsed through her like a different kind of blood. She wanted out. To be gone from here. The floor had blackened and cracked, the man was gone. Had he fled? Burned? She didn't recall either. And didn't care. She was free! No lines were keeping her. Nothing could stop her now! Nothing!

Because why hold back? Why keep yourself contained when you could fly free? Fly away?

Something was happening. Amber stretched. And continued stretching... everything changed. Or rather nothing changed but her perspective. She was formidable. Powerful. Majestic. The room was too small, the ceiling suddenly not so far away. She had to bend her neck to not brush the broken, molten lamps. And the stink of molten metal filled her nose.

With a near deafening roar she smashed the concrete and started digging upwards. Through wood, stone, dirt, gravel, it didn't matter. There wasn't going to be anything between her and the open skies she couldn't break now. Nothing that could withstand her fury. She was a force of destruction. Unstoppable. Undefeated. Wild. Free!

She kept working her way up, leaving nothing but rubble behind in her haste to reach the surface. Finally there was light ahead. Pure, clean sunlight. She redoubled her efforts.

The last layers of dirt gave way before her and she emerged into the open.

Amber let out a mighty roar of victory. She spread her wings, felt the fresh air on her skin, listened to the echoes of her new voice. She felt... alive.

Something bit her in the tail. Like the sting of an insect. She turned. It was a wisp. There were more around. A quick blast of fire set an end to the one that had dared to provoke her. But soon two others took up it's place instead. Amber let them evaporate in a cloud of smoke and sparks before they could even reach her. A close by tree caught fire. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. The noise of its sap boiling, branches cracking, leaves going up in a whoosh – it was like music to her.

She jumped onto a dark solid cube, the one she had noted the day before, before she... had found herself. It made for a nice little perch. She spew white hot spheres at any wisps she could see. And a few just for the joy of it. One landed all the way over in the little lake, making it hiss and bubble, a cloud of steam rising from the churned up surface of the water.

She sat back and took in the view, admiring her handy work. Her job here was done. The wisps were gone, the blond madman had disappeared and she was free. The sky seemed to invite her to try her new body in it's natural element. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she thought of flying without an airship. To rely on her body's strength and skill to keep her from falling. She spread her wings. _Are they strong enough? Time to find out!_

Crouching low she folded her wings slightly like she had seen birds do before taking flight. It seemed right and felt natural somehow. Even though she had never had wings before of course, it seemed as if her body 'remembered' how to move. She jumped up and with two, three flaps of her mighty wings she was airborne.

Amber shouted out her joy – then something hit her in the right wing, she saw a flash out of the corner of her eye. Immediately she lost all control. The ground was spiralling rapidly towards her and the crash that followed ripped a deep gouge into the ground. Dirt and stones were raining down on her as she shook herself, scanning the ruins, unsure where the attack had come from. Her little nests of fire and the smoke that hung thick in parts, made it more difficult to spot the enemy. So she turned and a few powerful strides took her back to her perch. It gave her the advantage of height and she could use it as a shield if needed.

Suddenly, movement and the sound of someone trying to sneak over loose gravel – with little to no success. She crouched, her muscles tense ready to pounce or flee, and waited.

Could it be that the maniac had survived and thought himself capable of killing her even though the odds were clearly against him now? She should have made sure he was dead before getting out.

There it was again. A quiet crunching sound.

Then she saw the mess of dirty blond hair appear around a piece of broken wall, a blood smeared face, eyes wide. She attacked immediately. A jet of flame that would either reduce him to ashes or flush him out from his hiding place. Either way she would finish him.

That her fire suddenly turned back on her came as a complete surprise.

This time she knew straight away what was going on though. The cube was a trap. A sphere in two layers surrounded her seat. Red on the inside, blue on the outside. Her perch was also glowing blue. She only now noticed the glass square in the middle. Inside were wires, machines and lights she didn't understand.

She howled!

It wasn't fair. After all she had been through, getting caught so easily seemed like a bad joke.

Amber clawed at the force field she stood on. Nothing. She tried fire. It had worked before. It became hot. She kept going. The grass around the cube blackened and even outside the sphere it burst into flame an a two, then three block radius. It was never going to be enough to reach the blond bastard. And it wouldn't guarantee her escape either if it killed him. She stopped.

"You really thought it would be that easy? They might call me insane, but I am not stupid! Ha! And now, just to let you know, I don't think I will kill you. Can't risk it. But if you decide that you would rather spend the rest of your life in relative comfort, you can of course join me. If you are especially co-operative I might even get you some sort of pain relief, would make things easier for me after all." He chuckled.

Amber hissed. The glass she stood on didn't show any signs of damage by the heat, of her weight or her razor sharp claws scratching it. He was infuriating. His casual cruelty, his complete lack of compassion, his seemingly never ending devious serenity. She unfurled her wings, jumping at him uncaring of the barrier, her maw open wide, teeth bared in a furious snarl.

Pain inevitably followed as she crashed into the force-field. She repeatedly beat her wings trying to fly but there simply wasn't enough room. Ever time she touched the barrier it sent waves of pain through her entire body. She screamed her anguish out into the world. It was pointless. She couldn't get through.

But maybe... was she prepared to take it further? With every hit, every shock, every touch she felt herself growing weaker and weaker. Already she was breathing hard and when she tried to summon her fire again it wouldn't heed her calling. Exhausted she slumped down on top of the cube. Her captor still screaming at her to stop, she hadn't even been able to hear him before. And still didn't care. He could scream all he wanted, she was going to finish it.

Amber looked up at the cage's ceiling. If she touched it with her entire back, her wings and her tail at once, maybe it would be quick. Maybe. Or maybe she would fall down still alive but too weak to end it...

Spreading her arms she... she looked at her arms. Her arms. Not her wings. _How...? No! What?! NO!_

"No. No, no, no, NO!" On her knees, her vision started to blur, tears streaming down her face. She had been so close. So close.

The mad man had stopped shouting at some point. Now he laughed.

"You won't escape that easily from me, my little... Dragonborn! Have we exhausted our magic supply? Hmm? Can't keep your shape without your magic, eh? Well we can't have that, because I would like to have some of it. All of it actually. And you are going to give it to me. Amongst other things. Just wait here while I go and get you something to help you sleep. Don't go away!"

He laughed at his own joke and turned back towards the ruins.

Amber's head was jerked up roughly by her hair and she felt something cold, bitingly sharp touch her throat. She gasped.

"I wouldn't leave right now Duncan. You might find your pet lacking certain vital body parts when you come back. Like her head."

Shock left Amber unable to move. _Rythian?_

The blond turned back around, eyes tight, lips pressed to a thin line. The first time Amber had seen something like surprise showing on his face.

"You wouldn't."

She inhaled sharply as Rythian drew his blade along her throat, feeling the slightest scratch, and then blood trickling down her collarbone.

"Believe me, I'd rather kill an innocent young woman than let you become that powerful. I would save hundreds, maybe thousands of lives. Are you prepared to take the risk? Let the chance of owning the only Dragonborn in the whole world slip through your fingers?"

She could see him starting to sweat. He was slowly moving closer, one hand moving around in his lab coat, the other holding yet another remote. Probably the one that controlled this force-field.

"What do you want?"

Rythian angled the knife slightly, it was now touching her more with its flat side rather than the edge. Amber tensed. He replied by gripping her hair more tightly, then almost letting go of it altogether before grasping it only lightly. She understood and relaxed a little. From the blond's viewpoint, they must seem motionless. He stood too far below them to see what was happening behind her head.

"What do you want, Enderborn?" he repeated, more loudly. _More desperate?_

"Oh, not much really. Just be so kind as to lower the force-field for me, why don't you? Then we can go our ways without anyone dying today."

"And what if I don't? You gonna kill her and then what? I can still make use of you instead."

"You don't understand, do you? You think I would be able to kill her to save peoples lives, but not be prepared to end my own for the same reasons? If you don't lower the shield, there will be two deaths here tonight. Three if I can arrange it. That I swear to you."

Sweat was now visibly running down his forehead leaving streaks in the blood and dirt. He still had one hand hidden in his coat.

Then a lot of things happened really fast. Without warning the force-field suddenly vanished and the blond maniac ripped his hand out of his coat pockets firing at them, the same instant Rythian practically threw her off the edge of the cube, away from the danger. Her body acted instinctively and she managed to somehow summon enough strength to change, spread her wings and glide down the slope of the hill, close to the ground towards the lake. There was no time to marvel at her change of body though as shots were fired her direction. Luckily they all missed, two by mere inches. She roared and beat her wings faster, just wanting away. As far away as possible. Safety. Anywhere. The shooting continued but not towards her. She didn't turn back.


	7. Chapter 7 - How to Surprise a Mage

**Chapter 7 – How to Surprise a Mage**

– earlier, same location –

As Rythian drew closer to the the ruins he could feel the taint. It made him dizzy and bile rose in the back of his throat. _This place is corrupted. Duncan has completely destroyed this area. Maybe not much so visibly, but the very heart, the soul of this place is dead. He leaves a trail of devastation wherever he goes. Am I the only one to see this? Nobody else seems to feel the need to stop him. Maybe I shouldn't have offered him a truce. Maybe... too late now. _

He noticed the force-field cube was the only thing still in one piece. It proved how scared Duncan had been – was – of him. He had built this thing to trap him, out of reinforced blocks. Even without the force-field active they didn't show a sign of damage. Not by wind and weather, time or the explosion of the flux dome. It was perfect really. _Apart from the small detail of it's power source of course. Ha, solar energy._ He shook his head as he walked past.

The wisps hadn't noticed him yet and he didn't want them to, so he kept low and kept an eye, and half an ear out for them while he searched for signs of Amber. He quickly found the area were she had fought and killed the Naga and whistled softly through his teeth. Even though it looked that it had been wounded and weakened a while ago, it was still no mean feat to slay a Naga all alone. With simple weapons and no enchanted armour at that.

Suddenly the ground beneath him trembled faintly. He listened. Yes, there was a low rumbling noise somewhere below his feet. What to do? Investigate? It could be anything. The noise grew louder. Something was coming up through the ground. Something big. He didn't want to find out what it was by standing on it. Instead he made a dash back and around the cube. Behind it he started digging himself a little hole close to the wall, three blocks deep. Whatever it was that could make the earth shake it hopefully couldn't destroy reinforced blocks, so logically the safest place would be underneath. If he went undetected he could always just wait until everything settled down and return to his search. He risked a peek around the corner. It was that moment, that the ground he had just stood on minutes before, erupted. Dirt and rocks flying everywhere, and out of the hole crawled, roaring and flailing, a black dragon!

It wasn't the Queen of the End. He knew straight away. This one was smaller, younger. It hadn't reached its full potential yet. And it was wounded and very, very angry.

"Duncan, what have you done?"

The wisps started attacking it and it didn't take long before the entire place sprouted nests of flames where the dragons fire balls missed a target. He had seen enough. He didn't want anything to do with this. Jumping down into the hole, he quickly blocked it up with dirt. Not a second too soon. He could hear the beast jumping on top of his hiding place. This wasn't good. He dug himself a small square and set down a torch. _I guess I will wait this out._

The noise up above suggested the dragon was burning the entire area down. It was muffled by the layer of dirt above his head but he could make out every single blast of fire. Then there was a pause followed by shuffling and a long drawn out roar that suddenly ended in a shriek and seconds later the ground shook again. Then silence followed by scraping directly above him and then it was quiet again.

What was going on up there? Suddenly he could hear fire being blasted above once more. First only a few seconds, then a slight humming seemed to be coming from the cube...

He swore. The block of dirt covering the entrance was easily removed and Rythian risked a quick peek out. At that moment blazing fires filled the air and the heat stole his breath away. He swiftly blocked the hole up again. It had been clear enough from what he had glimpsed. The force-field was up. And he was yet again on the wrong side of it. This time together with a crazed dragon.

Was it getting warmer? Touching the entrance wall confirmed his suspicion. Rythian dug up another layer, making the room three blocks heigh. It was getting uncomfortably warm now. _Maybe one deeper..._ The next block revealed a red pulsing pattern of strands of light he knew hurt like hell when touched. He covered it up again. That left putting another layer between himself and the ceiling as the only option to keep from being cooked alive. Or rather dry cured.

He stuck the dirt from the floor onto the ceiling and was about to cover the block that lead out, when he heard a familiar voice. He stepped closer. Duncan. He could only make out parts of what he was saying: "...stupid! Ha! And... don't think... kill you. … would rather... of your life in relative comfort..." The rest was a murmur too faint to hear. He did hear the dragon hiss in response and then there was a hell of a din. Roaring, hissing, scratching and thudding. It made him think of the beast colliding with the barrier repeatedly and howling with every impact. Eventually the noises died down, apart from Duncan's screaming. He could hear him quite clearly this time. Apparently he didn't want his pet to kill itself. But even his shouting subsided and Rythian decided it was about time to see if he couldn't use this situation to his advantage. He removed the dirt again and had a look. Nobody near. He climbed out. He could see the dragons tail hanging over the edge of the cube, then it twitched and vanished. He peered around the side to the left. Still nobody. The right. He saw the tip of a whitish coat and a shoulder poking out from the opposite side of the cube, outside the force-field.

So he was relatively safe on his side. Cautiously and quietly he put down a basic set of stairs made of four blocks. As he reached the third block, he should have been able to see the black beast now, but there was no sign of it. Instead he heard a faint whisper turning into a scream: "No. No, no, no, NO!"

_Amber? Yes, it's her voice! Amber! By Notches hat! Her magic, her eyes, purple. Her skill with fire! It makes so much sense now!_ Duncan's laughter cut his line of thoughts short.

"You won't escape that easily from me, my little... Dragonborn! Have we exhausted our magic supply for the day? Hmm? Can't keep your shape without your magic, eh? Well we can't have that, because I would like to have some of it. All of it actually. And you are going to give it to me. Amongst other things."

Rythian grew more and more furious with every word he heard. _He has gone too far!_ He put down the next block for his steps up the cube. And the last one. He crouched and slowly climbed up the last few steps. Amber was a mess. He could only see her back as she was kneeling close to the edge of her prison, head down, arms slack on her sides, sobbing quietly as the scientist taunted her.

"Just wait here while I go and get you something to help you sleep. Don't go away!"

Drawing his dagger, Rythian silently sprinted across, a plan forming as he moved. He had to make it look convincing.

_Sorry Amber._ He grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head up bringing his blade to her throat in one fluid motion. He heard her gasp but luckily she didn't move. Duncan hadn't noticed. He looked battered, there was a limp as he walked and he was covered in dirt and blood, old and fresh.

"I wouldn't leave right now Duncan. You might find your pet lacking certain vital body parts when you come back. Like her head." _I am so sorry Amber,_ he thought.

Duncan had stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly. His expression showed anger and disbelief. He was gripping something tightly in his left hand.

"You?! You wouldn't."

_Now is probably not the time to find out how good an actor I am, but it is worth a try I suppose. No turning back now anyway._ He cut a thin line across her skin. She inhaled sharply.

"Believe me, I'd rather kill _one_ innocent young woman than let you become that powerful. I would save hundreds, maybe thousands of lives. Are you prepared to take the risk? Let the chance of owning the only Dragonborn in the whole world slip through your fingers?"

He had him there! Rythian knew it. He could see beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

Stepping a little closer, the scientist put his free hand inside his coat.

"What do you want?"

Rythian didn't answer straight away. He had to get his plan across to Amber somehow without letting Duncan know. He angled his dagger slightly and felt her tense up. _No, don't move. Trust me,_ he thought, tightening his grip on her hair. To let her know he didn't mean her any real harm he let go of it immediately and then only held his hand in position, not to alert Duncan that anything unusual had just happened between them. Amber seemed to relax a little. _Good. We have a chance._

"What do you want, Enderborn?" Duncan repeated.

"Oh, not much really. Just be so kind as to lower the force-field for me, why don't you? Then we can go our ways without anyone dying today."

"And what if I don't? You gonna kill her and then what? I can still make use of you instead."

"You don't understand, do you? You think I would be able to kill her to save peoples lives, but not be prepared to end my own for the same reasons? If you don't lower the shield, there will be two deaths here today. Three if I can arrange it. That I swear to you."

_The moment of truth. Is he...?_ The glowing suddenly vanished. Rythian didn't waste a second. He yanked Amber up and gave her a shove towards the left that send her flying over the edge. Literally flying. She was a dragon again, beating her enormous wings, each beat a dull pressure in his ears rather than a sound. Using the momentum, Rythian jumped off behind her dodging several shots fired at them both from some kind of gun he didn't recognise. He rolled, came up running and circled around the scientist. He didn't seem to be able to decide which one to shoot first and the brief moment of indecision cost him dearly as the Enderborn lashed out with his dagger while drawing his sword. The knife cut deep into his opponents arm holding the gun and he dropped it with a curse. Rythian didn't give him any time to retreat, but showed him the business end of his emerald sword close up. With the razor sharp tip less than an inch from his nose, the blond could do nothing but stare slightly cross eyed along the weapon, clutching his bleeding arm.

"You have gone too far Duncan. You shouldn't have done what you did. This has to end. Now. I won't lie to you. You are going to die. And when you re-spawn you better not touch any weapons. Ridge will hear of this and he will come for you. And when he does, you better be on your best behaviour and have a _really_ good explanation for all of this! Goodbye Duncan."

And he buried his sword into the blond's chest to the hilt. He died without making a sound. Rythian stepped back. All the things that the mad man had been carrying around with him fell onto the floor as his corps vanished. He didn't want to touch any of it. Shaking his head in disgust he turned towards the lake Amber had flown over. There was no sign of her. Scanning the skies he noticed a dark dot in the distance slowly becoming bigger. Something was moving towards him.

"Well at least it can't be Duncan. It just can't be. Nobody recovers _that_ quickly."

After a while it became clear that it was an airship.

Rythian watched as the airship drew closer. He could make out two forms, one tall with dark hair, the other short and stocky, the mass of ginger beard marking him clearly as Simon Honeydew.

"Lewis and Simon. Well they haven't been around here for an age. I don't believe in such a coincidence," he muttered. _They must be here for Duncan._

He wiped his blade clean before he sheathed the green sword. Not with the intention to hide what he had done. He didn't think either of Duncan's friends would attack him without hearing him out first, but it seemed – impolite to greet them with the blood of their companion still on the weapon. They knew about his problems with the scientist and so far had made no move to help Duncan. _But then again they probably didn't bother trying to stop him either._

He stood and waited on the slope of the hill, his arms crossed. The airship descended slowly a bit further down where the ground was more level, until it was hovering only 3 blocks above ground and Lewis and Simon jumped off.

Lewis took the lead and strode towards Rythian, a worried frown showing on his face as he took in the destruction. His dwarf friend close behind him didn't hold back putting his thoughts into words.

"Holy shit! Man, I knew Duncan said his castle was broken, but this? This is crazy! I thought this happened a while ago, but look, there are still fires burning and stuff! And I don't like this weird feeling. I feel kinda dizzy, Lewis. I think I'm gonna be sick."

Lewis glanced at his companion. He looked a bit pale too.

"Yeah, I don't feel too good either."

They had slowed their walk as they got closer and Lewis held up both hands showing that they were empty, to signal that they came in peace. Rythian nodded, uncrossing his arms.

"Hello Lewis, Simon. I guess you are here for Duncan."

It was a statement rather than a question.

"You just missed him."

"Actually we -" Simon started at the same time as Lewis said: "What do you mean we missed him?"

They exchanged looks, the dwarf throwing his hands up.

"Fine, you do the talking, I have a look around. Excuse me while I pick up this stuff and find myself a quiet corner to throw up. This is horrible," he muttered and stomped off towards the ruins.

Rythian shook his head. They were an odd pair the two of them, sometimes they behaved as if they were an old couple, married for at least fifty years. He turned back to Lewis, studying his face as he answered.

"Didn't you see the fight from up there? And the noise must have been enough to wake the dead."

"No, actually. We did hear something like roaring just earlier but didn't know what to make of it. We were keeping quite low, just above the trees" he let out a tired sigh. "So, apparently Duncan was here and you two had a fight again. I thought there was a truce of some sort between you? I'm sure Duncan mentioned it a while ago. And what were you doing here anyway?"

The way Lewis talked, it almost seemed as if he had just been burdened with yet another problem to fix, on top of a whole load of other impossible problems. He looked exhausted and distracted.

Rythian didn't really want to make life more difficult for him, but he wasn't going to lie about what had happened.

"I just came here, following the tracks of a friend who doesn't know the area and just in time to see your friend Duncan taunting, threatening and torturing her, so I stepped in. I couldn't just stand by and watch, truce or no. She escaped and he went mad about it. He tried to shoot me so I killed him. And I am going to tell Ridge about this. It has gone too far for too long Lewis. Your friend has turned into some sort of completely ruthless maniac! How could you let this happen? You two talk to him all the time, don't you? Have you -"

Lewis interrupted him with a shake of his head and raised hand.

"Hold on, hold on. This doesn't sound like Duncan to me. I have known him for quite a long while now and he might be careless, reckless and a bit of an idiot sometimes. But he is not cruel."

"Well, I have got to know him as well and I can tell you I had the 'pleasure' to experience his true nature first hand. Remember the nukes and Zoey's arm? To be fair he didn't set them off himself but..."

Lewis sighed but kept shaking his head.

"I swear to you Rythian, this wasn't Duncan."

"And who was it then? His evil twin brother? Because I got a good look at him and he looked exactly like Duncan to me."

"Er, well, see, this is why we are here. Kind of. It's a bit complicated, but long story short, Yoglabs had to be evacuated, not everybody made it and when we got back it was more than half destroyed. We don't know how, we don't know who and we don't know why. And it's not just that so much is damaged and destroyed. Uhm, we kind of lost a few of the clones. Don't look at me like that. -"

Rythian's face was mere inches from Lewis' as he grabbed him by the front of his shirt, anger, fear and the feeling of betrayal all tumbling through his mind.

"You have clones?! Are you _crazy?_ You have been cloning everybody in there?!"

"Look, we tried and it didn't quite work so we stopped, okay? We didn't clone everybody. Just a few people. And before you ask, no we didn't clone you or Zoey! I swear!"

Rythian let go and took a deep breath, taking it all in.

"I am gonna be honest with you Lewis. Right now I am fighting the urge to punch you in the face. I thought you lot were better than that. But, what has happened can't be changed now, so what is it about this Duncan clone? I presume that is what you are trying to tell me."

Lewis looked rather pale. He was avoiding the Endermages eyes as he explained how they had had trouble with the first few clones and how they found out that Duncan's clone had turned out to be a psychopath and murderer. Then he went on about how they couldn't kill him, as they didn't know where he would re-spawn if he did and that he had been kept in a high security unit under the code name 'Lalnable Hector'. The other clones gone missing included Lewis' clone, Sips' clone and Sjin's.

At the mention of Sjin, Rythian pricked up his ears.

"And all these escaped clones are basically all highly dangerous and mentally unstable? And you don't know where any of them are."

"That is the long and short of it, yes. Well, it seems Duncan's clone has wandered to Duncan's old base, so maybe the others have moved to similar places. That would give us somewhere to start anyway. So, uhm, if you see any of them, be careful. I mean, more careful than you normally are. I shouldn't be asking this of you, but if you see one of them and get the chance to hold them trapped somewhere, would you do that for us? It would save a lot of trouble in the long run. Of course you probably have other things to do... hang on. Why are you here again? I thought you and Zoey and the rest moved to some secret camp somewhere far away?"

"Yeah, we did. And it was fine until I ran into Sjin! The bastard managed to drag me half dead to some place in the bloody Twilight Forest... oh never mind. You are probably going to tell me now that that wasn't really Sjin, but his evil clone, am I right?"

Lewis nodded thoughtfully.

"Probably. Yes. I know for a fact that Sjin, the real Sjin is building a compound to build a rocket to get to the moon, or Mars maybe. To get Sips back. He somehow got stuck in space. Don't ask. And he has definitely not been to the Twilight Forest recently. So. You met his clone as well as Duncan's. Man, that is unlucky! Somewhere in the Twilight Forest, hmm? Can you describe the place? Did he say something, anything that could give us a clue to the location? What did he do... to you...? Notch, that is one hell of an awkward question to ask. Uhm."

He trailed off, scratching behind his ear and ran his hand through his hair, looking about as uneasy as Rythian felt.

"Lewis, you don't want to know that. Or rather, I won't tell you, even if you do, okay? About the location, I have no idea. He didn't talk much sense and I had better things to do at the time than to keep every word he said in mind in case it meant something. But if you find him, he has some things that belong to me and I would like them back. Also he might be even more dangerous now than he was. It is getting dark by the way. And I wouldn't hang around this place after dark. It is tainted."

It _was_ getting dark. Simon must have noticed it as well, as he emerged from the castles ruins at a trot, huffing and puffing.

"Guys? You should have a look at this place! Did you know Duncan has a wither skeleton spawner in his basement? An' there is a lot of 'Dragonblood' and rum left! We should take it, just in case it goes off!" He giggled. "It still tastes alright!"

Lewis tapped his foot, frowning at his slightly tipsy friend and shook his head.

"Simon Honeydew! Have you been drinking?"

The dwarf shuffled his feet a bit the last few meters and his grin vanished to be replaced by a guilty look.

"Mayyybeeee," he threw up his hands. "But I just had one of each! To make sure it was alright to take with us. No point in taking it if it were off, right? So I... sampled it. And I don't feel sick anymore! Heh. See? You know what they say? Alcohol is the best medicine! I think." He was swaying slightly.

"I don't think that's how the saying goes, actually."

"Simon, we are _not_ taking three barrels of rum or anything with us! We don't have the space for them and that's _not_ why we are here. And you would only drink it straight away anyway! And I am _not_ going to fly this damn thing on my own with you in the back getting shit-faced! So get that thought out of your thick head. We really have other problems to think about and I need you to be sober for this. Did you pick everything up what Duncan's clone dropped? Have you found anything useful at all? Actually, let's talk about it on the airship," he turned to the mage, "we could drop you off somewhere safe Rythian. Well, safer. Anywhere you want really."

Rythian would have rather avoided the ship, but in his state he couldn't really hope to get home unscratched through the forests and the swamp, so he just shrugged and followed.

On board the ship, Simon gave a jumbled report on his findings, about tunnels, wither skeletons, a destroyed underground lab and a big hole going through several layers of concrete and stone from said laboratory. Rythian raised an eyebrow at that, impressed by Amber's strength, but he didn't comment on it. The two friends didn't seem to know what to make of it and dropped the topic, as it wasn't really of any concern for them right now.

"Right, let's be on our way then. Rythian where would you like us to drop you off? At your castle? Er, I mean your... old... base? Dammit. You know what I mean." Lewis finished a little embarrassed.

"No, no, it's okay, it wasn't your fault. Uh, could you get me across that lake over there and drop me off at the shore? I need to find my friend. She disappeared that way and she wasn't in a good shape. How fast is this thing?"

"Oh pretty fast. Everybody ready? Hold on to your guts!"

" Wha..?_ She?_ You have a friend?" Simon asked surprised.

"I have many friends." the mage answered dryly with a level look.

"Nooo, I mean, I didn't mean it that way. Obviously. I just thought, er, Zoey, uh," he trailed off under the mage's steady gaze.

"Nevermind. I think I better shut up now." The dwarf

Lewis got into the pilot seat and they turned the ship towards the water. It really didn't take them long to cross, but the sun had set by the time they reached the shore and the first mobs were starting to spawn. With his night-vision Rythian was able to spot Amber almost immediately. He asked for Lewis to stop the ship and let him get off.

"Do you need anything at all? Weapons, armour, fuel? We didn't bring much but you look like you might need it more that we do. Sorry, but that's the truth of it, my friend." Lewis shot the mage an apologetic look.

"Thank you, but I'll be fi-" glancing at Amber's dark hunched form, motionless in the sand, he changed his mind. He might not need anything, but _she_ definitely did. "Actually, do you have a healing potion or some spare food? I didn't bring enough for two."

"Yes we do! I have... hang on. I have a potion of healing, there you go... aaand some pork. How much do you need? You know what, here, have twenty. Twenty is plenty as they say!" Simon handed him the chops and the little glass bottle.

"Thank you Simon, Lewis. Good luck with your search. I will pay you back one day. I won't forget!" He jumped down.

"Oh, don't worry about it, friend! It was good to see you again. We haven't really been in much contact lately. I'm sorry about that. Really. You should come and visit us some time! You, Zoey, Teep, Ravs,... just to get back together for a drink or something. All right? Rythian? Are you still there? Rythian? Oh well, I think he's gone Simon. It's too dark. I can't see shit."

"Let's bugger off then. Which way are we going from here? That way, wasn't it? Oh! Forgot to mention earlier, you, er, remember the fishing trip me and Duncan went on with Kim?"

"Yeees? The one that ended in such a disaster? But what does that have to do with our search?"

"Uh, weeell, there was a freshly dead Naga between the ruins and I looked through all the chests I could find and..."

Rythian didn't hear the rest of their conversation, as the two friends turned their ship and set off again. He was kneeling down next to Amber. She was unconscious but alive, and as far as he could tell stable. There were monsters near by, he could hear them. There was no way to move the girl... _not girl, she is a grown woman, an Ender-... no! Dragonborn._ He shook his head. Dragonborn. The word went round and round in his mind as he built a small box-like house around her out of cobblestone. It would keep them safe for the night. He placed a few torches on the inside walls and didn't bother with a door or any windows. As he sat down watching Amber's shallow breathing, he thought he saw her eyelids twitch.

She suddenly let out a piercing scream, sitting bolt upright and looking through him, her eyes shone bright purple and were full of terror. He grabbed her by the shoulders, trying to get her attention.

"Amber. Amber, it's okay. It's alright, you made it. It's safe here."

She pressed the palms of her hands onto her eyes. Wave after wave of crying fits shook her and only a great amount of soothing whispers and awkward patting on the back made her calm down enough to even take her hands off her face and open her eyes. She noticed the crude walls and ceiling for the first time and her breath caught in her throat, eyes wide.

"What's wrong? Amber? It's safe in here. I built us a little hiding space. We will be alright in here until morning."

"It's too close, too small, I can't breathe! Rythian! No space! There is no space! RYTHIAN!"

He grabbed her arms moving his face closer to hers, his eyes holding hers in his gaze.

"Listen to me Amber. You are safe. I put these stone walls up. We can take them down easily. There is lots and lots of air in here. Listen to me! You have to calm down, you are panicking because of what happened before. But that's over now, okay? A small space is _not_ scary. It can't hurt you. Okay, that's good. Slow breaths. Keep your eyes on mine. Are you scared of sand?" She shook her head. It was such a small movement, he almost missed it. "Good. You are not scared of sand, and you are not scared of stone, right?" Another small shake of the head. "Good. That is all there is. Sand underneath and stone around us. There is me and you and nothing to be scared of. Because the most dangerous thing here right now is _you_, Amber."

She stared at him in silence for what seemed like forever. Then she nodded.

"Okay," she whispered.

"Okay. Here, I have a healing potion for you."

As he handed her the small bottle, it was as if all her strength had left her again and without his quick reflexes the bottle would have dropped and shattered on the ground. He caught it. Amber was now slumped against the wall her breathing was calmer now, but she looked deathly pale and here eyes had lost their glow. He held the potion to her lips and she drank in small slow sips. Rythian made sure she emptied it to the last drop. Even with the healing powers of this brew she would feel awful tomorrow, he knew. No sooner had she finished swallowing than unconsciousness took her again. He gently laid her on the ground, watching as the burns and cuts on her face, arms and neck vanished.

It was only now, that he could feel his own tiredness creep up on him. He made himself eat a pork chop before he laid down next to the sleeping woman, his back against her side to share his body heat with her. Skeletons, spiders and zombies filled the night with their growling, hissing and rattling. _Dragonborn,_ he thought. _Enderborn and Dragonborn. Seems like I have something like a half-sister I guess. Or as close to that as can be. A little sister..._


	8. Chapter 8 - A new Life

**Chapter 8 – A new life**

Amber's first thoughts were circling around the fact that she had never in her entire life felt so god damn awful. Her head was apparently filled with thick cotton, yet at the same time her entire skull was throbbing so painfully, she was beginning to wonder if someone was stood over her taking a hammer to it in a slow, dull rhythm. It made it impossible to concentrate on anything else...

...apart from the sickening dizziness maybe. Or the pain in her arms and neck, her back, her legs, everywhere really. There didn't seem to be a part of her body _not_ aching.

She opened her eyes. Now the cobblestone ceiling was spinning in front of her vision. _Not good!_ Closing them didn't improve things though. It was too much. With a groan she managed to sit up and turn to the side just in time to throw up violently. Her retching and coughing just made her feel even more sickly. She felt a sympathetic hand on her shoulder, supporting her as she coughed up everything she had had in her stomach, which couldn't have been much to start with.

The horrible smell, the spinning walls, the closeness of the room, it was all getting to her.

"Told you you can get power-sick. You won't make that mistake again in a hurry, hmm?"

"Rythian. I need..." she coughed up nothing but spit that left an acid taste in her mouth, "...out! Air! Please."

"I don't think it is day time yet, but I will have a look, hang in there. I know it's horrible. But it will go away eventually. Stay here and I will have a look around. Here, your waterskin."

She took it, her hands shaking badly, but she managed to wash the disgusting taste out at least, before drinking the rest.

Meanwhile the mage had dug a way out underneath through the sand. She could hear a spider, then a curse and a hissing noise. The boom that followed told her that he hadn't managed to kill a creeper in time. Another muttered curse. So he was still up and standing. 'Stay here', he had said. As if she was going to go anywhere in her state.

She groaned. It took her several tries before she managed to stand up. And only by steadying herself on the wall with one hand. Her effort was rewarded with new spasms of pain making her stomach clench and heave. The little bit of water she had managed to swallow joined the disgusting mess on the floor. Half blind with pain, shivering and sweating and everything spinning faster and faster, Amber stumbled and crawled out through the hole. The cold, fresh night air offered little relieve though. She still felt like throwing up everything she had ever eaten. Ever. But there was nothing there and so she just retched and coughed and gasped on her hands and knees in the sand, shaking like a leaf.

A short while later, Rythian found her curled up in a tight ball next to the cobblestone hideout. He rushed to kneel next to her.

"Amber! It's not even dawn yet! It's not safe, there are a lot of mobs out there, how exactly were you going to defend yourself against them? Come, you need to rest," he tried to grab her arms and help her up, but she just held on even tighter and groaned. There was no moving her. He gave up and simply built an extension, surrounding them again in plain cobblestone. He didn't put a roof on, it would be dawn soon anyway, as long as they kept out of sight they would be fine.

He did worry about Amber's state though. Where she had managed to talk to him before, he couldn't even get a simple response out of her now. Talking to her didn't work. She didn't even seem to be able to hear him. He shook her shoulders, gently first then more firmly to get her attention, but all she could manage was a groan through clenched teeth, he could see the muscles of her jaw straining. He quickly realised that she had a bad fever. Her clothes were almost completely drenched in sweat. It looked bad. There was not much he could do to help, just wait until the sickness had passed and hope she didn't give up.

Sitting down close to her he put an arm around her and hugged her, talking softly, encouraging her to stay awake, to hold on. Dawn came and as the sun slowly crawled over the walls, Amber drifted off into a calmer sleep. Her temperature had almost returned to normal too, so Rythian decided it was safe enough to leave her for a while.

–

It took most of the day for Amber to recover from her power-sickness. By the time the sun had set again she was awake and had stopped shaking or being sick. She felt as weak as a newborn kitten though and Rythian had had to go to get her more water to drink several times during the day. He had managed to refill her waterskin without splashing any onto his skin. As night drew in, she seemed to be completely cured. He shared some pork chops with her and she managed to keep everything down.

Rythian had stayed silent for most of the day. He didn't want to press her about her heritage or what had happened at the ruins. She would have to take the first step and only when she was ready to confront the matter would he offer his advice and help. It was a lot to take in, he knew and not easy to accept. After all, her entire life would have to change now. She would see things differently and would have to adjust to the changes. Or she might try and fight it. Maybe she would try and deny her true self. It was possible. He had to wait and see.

After eating her meal, the young woman had slowly started pacing the small walled off area.

Finally she stopped in front of the mage, a pleading expression on her face.

"Tell me."

"I -"

"And don't leave anything out. I want the whole truth. Even if it's bad."

"Honestly, I wasn't going to. It never pays to only tell half a story. You want the whole truth. Here it is: You are Dragonborn. You are a different kind of Enderborn than me. A unique creation, rather than part of a race. We are different. Not from this world, but the End. That is where we draw our raw magic from. You can change shape with enough magical energy, maybe you can do other things, have other abilities. I don't know. You are the first of your kind I have ever met."

Amber slowly sank to her knees, every word weighing her down. Rythian squatted down next to her.

"It is a hard truth, but we have to make do and live with it. And it isn't all that bad, really. I know it hit me hard when I realised I was the only one, different from every other living creature in this world. But when you think about it, everybody is unique. And oddly enough that makes us all equal."

"We are somehow connected with the End? I don't understand. How...? No, why am I the way I am? And you?"

Rythian sighed. He had hoped to avoid having to explain about the making of Enderborn. Or Dragonborn in her case. And that topic was proving to be even more difficult, as he had never even heard of Dragonborn before. _How had Duncan known? His clone rather. How?_

"I better start explaining from the beginning, I guess. But don't expect an answer to everything. I am no expert in this. Just the result. Now, you know about the Enderdragon? The Queen of the End?"

Amber nodded and shrugged slightly, her head tilted to the side.

"All right. I tell you a bit about the Queen first then. You have probably never seen it, but the End is a dark wasteland infested with Endermen. Nothing grows there. Nothing really lives. Even the Endermen can't stand it forever. That's why they come to the Overworld and you can see them holding random blocks, they prefer clutching blocks of grass. A touch of life. But always they have to go back. They don't live as such. They are not individual beings, but more part of their homeland. And part of the Queen. Almost like a mixture out of one gigantic organism, a parasite and an ant hill. And like ants, Endermen aren't very bright. They just follow her strict orders or wander about aimlessly when she doesn't need them.

Now, the Queen is ambitious and always in need of subjects who can think for themselves. That is where I come into play." He paused, frowning at the ground.

Amber stared, horrified, then jumped up.

"You are some underling of the Enderqueen?! Notch! And I thought I could trust you!"

"Never! I would rather die a thousand deaths, than serve that monstrous creature that calls itself 'Queen of the End'."

He sat, arms crossed, head held high, holding her gaze with his own. She reluctantly lowered herself back down.

"I'm sorry, I'm still not thinking straight."

He waved her apology away. "Don't worry. I know a little bit about what must be going through your head right now. Just let me tell you what I know and things will make more sense. Hopefully. Right, so. An Enderdragon is a creature of magic. Magic that comes from the End. This makes the Queen immensely powerful on her own ground. She can draw her powers from the ground she stands on or the air around her if she must. There is nobody in her world who could withstand her power, so she rules unchallenged and can do as she pleases. In her madness, she decided she could afford to... to create a powerful ally, someone similar to herself, but independent. Me."

Seeing the look on his face, Amber didn't need further convincing that Rythian despised the fact of being a 'creation' of such a creature as the Enderdragon. As he continued talking, she thought his eyes seemed somehow change colour to a deeper, darker purple. It worried her more than a little.

"She was so self obsessed, it never occurred to her that I could turn out any different to what she had planned for me. It was quite a surprise for her when I disagreed with her plans. It would have been funny, if my life hadn't depended on it. If she had been prepared for a fight, I doubt I could have escaped.

All this happened some time ago now. I have kept away from the End. I have done everything to avoid having to go there..." His head suddenly jerked up, making her jump. "Amber, have you ever died and re-spawned in your life so far?"

"Er, yes, of course. Not very often, I try not to die if I can help it. A bit of a weird question to ask, isn't it? I mean, who hasn't died and re-spawned? It's pretty much unheard of!"

"You... can you remember where exactly you re-spawned? Last time you didn't have a home, I mean."

Amber chewed on her lip, avoiding his eyes. Then she shook her head and looked up.

"Remember the cave where we first met? It's always places like that. Different caves, but without an exit. It has happened four times now. Once I was lucky and some miners found me in a small space with rock all around and bedrock underneath. Another time there were some gravel and dirt blocks in the wall I could dig through. It took me days to get to the surface. There was that one time, I re-spawned in a huge cave with a little lava fall on one side. First I tried to dig through the rock, but it took too long and was too difficult. By the end of the third day I was so weak from hunger, I could hardly stand. I... I thought I had nothing to lose, so I jumped into the lava." Amber shuddered at the memory.

"You killed yourself." Amber gave him a little smile, hearing the sympathy in his voice.

"I thought I had, but there was a small space behind the lava and it had a hole in the floor. I fell right through and into a pool of healing water. That must have been the luckiest day of my life, I think."

Rythian shook his head in disbelief.

"The next time I was in that cave with the river running past. I had only just woken up when you almost drifted past. You were caught on a piece of driftwood and it wedged itself between the rocks. I pulled it out. And you. Obviously."

She frowned, thinking.

"It's not normal to spawn in different places every time you die, is it? I mean, I have never told anyone, but from what I have heard of other people they usually spawn in the same place. And always on the surface. Does it have to do with me being... different?"

Now it was Rythian's turn to frown. His hand wandered up to his chest, but his fingers found nothing. He had given the amulet to Zoey in the Twilight Forest. To keep it safe. He had regretted that decision shortly afterwards.

"Yes. It has to do with you being Dragonborn. But it doesn't make any sense. Why would she send you to a place in the Overworld? Why not straight to her doorstep? Or at least somewhere in the End? Or maybe she can't. Maybe you are too powerful. Or something went wrong. Maybe she made a mistake -"

"Rythian, you have to be a bit less cryptic and a bit more detailed! Who made a mistake? The Queen? She can make me re-spawn in the End, or what?"

"Sorry, I was just thinking. I honestly don't know how much power she has over you. Probably not that much, or you would be with her already, doing her bidding. But I can explain how it is with me, and maybe that can help you in some way.

It all comes down to the fact, that our magic comes from the End. Basically. We are forever connected to that cursed place. When I first fled from the End to the Overworld, Endermen seemed to be wherever I went. Always watching me. I eventually figured out how the Queen always knew where I was. It was this -" he pulled at his mask and showed her the black symbol etched into his skin. Amber studied it.

"It is a mark she burned into my skin during the fight. It contains the smallest possible part of her essence and she can use it to find me. Unless," he covered it up again, "I hide it from her. The cloth itself doesn't really do anything, it just hides it from everybody else, including Endermen. But I enchanted it with a spell I came up with during my studies. It blocks me from her mind. I am pretty much invisible to her with this."

"That's useful. I don't have a mark like that though and I don't understand what that has to do with my spawn points."

"Nothing, but the other thing I have, well. I don't have it right now. It is an amulet I made from an Enderpearl. It stops me from re-spawning in the End when I don't have anywhere else to come back to. The only problem is, it kinda blocks some of my magic as well. Or rather the connection to the End. So I took it off and gave it to... a friend -"

He hesitated for a second, then he shrugged, "I gave it to Zoey. It didn't make any difference, but I had to try. Now I need to find her as quickly as possible, because if I die now, I will go straight to the End, and the Queen would be more than happy to keep me as a 'guest', I'm sure."

Amber put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it slightly.

"I will help you find her, Rythian. If you'll let me. I... I appreciate your openness about yourself. But I understand if you don't want me to come with you."

He looked at her questioningly.

"No! Of course you can come with me. Why would I leave you behind? Why would you think that?"

Was there a touch of hurt in his voice? Amber's face burned with embarrassment.

"I didn't mean it that way, I just thought, if the Queen can find me like she could find you, than I would be endangering you and your friends just by being with you! And I said I wouldn't do that, remember?"

Rythian sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Amber, I knew you might be watched by the Queen. I knew it from the beginning. So far she hasn't shown up. And about that little quarrel we had there... I am sorry. I wasn't thinking things through. I was worried about Zoey, Teep, about what happened before. I guess I lashed out at you because I felt somewhat vulnerable and wasn't sure if I should trust you. Just... just forget what I said back then. You know what? You could actually say that we are part of a family. You are my little sister, I didn't know I had. And siblings should take care of one-another." He smiled.

"That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me since I left my... since I left my home." Amber said, her voice quite chocked up. She suddenly turned and embraced the mage into a tight hug. Unsure what to do, he froze for a second before returning the embrace a little awkwardly.

"Um, anyway. Uh. Amber? You wanted to know about the End and your magic and stuff?"

Reluctantly she let go and wiped her face. She mumbled something about sand in her eye before settling back, knees pulled up to her chest.

"Right, were was I? This amulet I had. I am sure we can make you one. It might be a little different, but as soon as we get to Base Camp I can start searching through my notes. We will figure something out. For now though you should keep close to me, we have to watch each other's backs. If one of us dies -" He sighed in frustration. "I really wish we had some kind of way to communicate if worst comes to worst. There must be a spell of some sort, I'm sure I have come across a kind of telekinetic magic at some point and never bothered to research it further."

Amber perked up, suddenly remembering about her transformation.

"Rythian, I just thought... when I changed, I don't think I could talk at all. What if we were separated and I changed and you saw me and thought I was the Queen?!"

The sudden laughter coming from the mage, was not quite what Amber had expected. She immediately felt her burst of panic subside though. Strange, how she had gone from mistrusting and even disliking him to feeling so easily calmed by nothing more but his laughter at her worry.

"Don't ever worry about that, Amber! There is no way I could ever confuse you with that old monster. Ever." He smiled.

"And once you are ready to try out your dragon shape again, we can see what you can and can't do. Without anyone attacking us, preferably. Remember when you asked me if I couldn't just teleport away? Well, I can't change shape like you, thank Notch for that. But I have some of the same abilities Endermen have. I can teleport, I can see in the dark, I am more than a little taller and stronger than the average human and I could talk to Endermen. I can't think of any situation where I wanted to do that, but you never know. It might come in handy one day."

Rythian paused. There was the other side of his similarity with the hated Endermen too.

"And then there are the other things. The adverse effects. I can't touch pure water. I sometimes teleport by accident when it's raining. Ravs told me once, that I was the most easily annoyed and most distracted person he knew. It is hard to keep control over yourself all the time. But the worst thing about being me is - I can't do anything about being part of the End. The place practically oozes evil. It tries to seep into your mind, it corrupts whatever it touches, it would get the better of me, if I let my guard down at the wrong moment for too long. These are the kind of things you will have to watch out for. Your feelings. Your own thoughts, or what you might think your own thoughts are, can betray you. Apart from that? I don't know. You will have to find out. You might have some abilities the Queen has, or maybe not. We will have to try and see. But I promise you, I will try me best to help you in any way I can, okay?"

Amber nodded, relieved. Suddenly the memories of her first transformation seemed to have a darker note to them. Had it been _her_ fury that caused all the destruction and fire or was that the result of the Enderqueen's experiments? Had she really wanted to burn and kill everything in her path at first sight? Maybe it had been because of what she had been though. She still felt nothing but hate for the man in the stained white coat and the broken goggles. Or was that not really her?

"How do I know which thoughts are my own and which ones aren't? How do you know?"

Rythian shook his head. "There is no easy way to tell. Sometimes I don't know either. I just try to think 'what would my friends say or do?' I try to choose the better options. It's very difficult to explain. But I just try to be a better person. All the time. It's not easy, believe me. But it's all I can do to make sure the Queen doesn't get a hold in my mind. And that is all that matters. Don't let her in!"

"I won't. Thank you Rythian. I am sorry about how I was so short tempered before. I will try to change. Tell me when I get too... too angry, okay?"

"I will, don't you worry little sister."

Amber giggled. It was so strange to have someone to look up to all of a sudden. But then again everything had become very strange now. She felt unbelievably happy and very nervous at the same time. She couldn't wait to find out what powers she really had, but she was also worried that she might end up being taken over by the Enderdragon. But she could finally accept herself the way she was and she was not alone anymore. That thought was the most wonderful of all and she just daydreamed about what it would be like having a big brother to watch out for her, to tease and to make proud, to trust and to be proud of. Then Rythian interrupted her pondering.

"I think you might have already used some of your talents without knowing. Didn't you tell me something about how you can tell if someone lies to you? That sounds like a mind trick to me. And you know something else? I have never told anyone so much about myself before. Not even Zoey. And you just have me talking away about stuff after we only met less than a week ago."

He shook his head bemused, but also with an uneasy expression on his face.

"Yeah, a lot of people tell me things I really want to know. No secret is safe from my hunger for knowledge! No matter whether it's your favourite colour or the most embarrassing thing you ever said! Beware! Hahaha!"

"Please don't ask me that." Rythian snorted and stretched. "Come on, let's get a few hours sleep and then we can head back to our little hideout, there is a lot of work to do."


	9. Chapter 9 - Smoke And Water

**Chapter 9 – Smoke and Water**

Smoke still crawled like ghostly tendrils through the broken corridors, curling around blocks, climbing up stairs and clinging to the partly destroyed ceiling. Had it had eyes, it would have seen the dark square surrounded by twelve lighter, grey-bluish blocks suddenly appearing. It materialised without a sound in a chamber with no ceiling. The smoke was thickest in the narrow corridors, but here, in the once white chamber, the scorched stone was still hot, the deformed metal and glass strewn across the floor held some heat and the charred beams that used to support the old structure above were still smouldering. In fact, if the smoke had had a memory, it would have realised that the strange square had popped into the overworld at exactly the very same spot where all the fire had originated from.

And had there been a freak chance of smoke having any kind of self awareness or brain, it would have been dumb-folded by the fact that a strangely glowing, swirling creature emerged from the black depths. The thing stayed hoovering above the portal for a while, rotating around its tentacle like extremities. It would have been rather eyewatering to watch. There was nothing physically connecting the creatures head with its lower body parts, nothing but smoke and tiny flames. Several layers of limbs were steadily turning in different directions and at different speeds, almost as if they could spin apart and drift away at any moment. Yet it seemed unconcerned about that, as it finally moved away from the portal, inspecting the area carefully.

A strangely metallic rhythmic breathing was coming from the glowing creature and oddly enough: footsteps. Yet it was still hoovering almost a foot above the ground.

After inspecting every inch of the place, it moved upwards and out through the hole into the open. Time passed. It was clearly searching for something. And it clearly didn't find it, as it slowly sank back down through the hole. One final glance around the ruined chamber and it stepped back into the portal and was gone.

–

The next two days flew by as the two jumped into the mountain of work and preparations they had to finish before they could begin their journey to find Base Camp. Rythian explained how he tried to get at least one of the remaining computers working again to send a message to Zoey and Amber offered to lend a hand, though she admitted she didn't have any experience with complex machines. Even with their combined effort they failed to fix any of the computers. Finally Rythian resigned to the fact that they would just have to set out towards the desert camp and hope that Zoey and Teep had made it back there. Or weren't looking for him in the Twilight Forest. That decision made, it didn't take much time at all to pack everything they would need on their journey.

On the third day they set off at sunrise, well equipped, their packs filled with food, torches and other useful things. Rythian took the lead heading off in an south-easterly direction. He had estimated that it should take them about a week, maybe a few days longer, to get to Sick Bay by foot. To break up the journey and to exercise he had come up with a lesson plan. Every morning Amber would magically light a small fire for their breakfast, then she would practise her mind control and ask questions, which her mentor would answer, only to ask her back later. Lacking any equipment to practise potion brewing or any other kind of magic, Rythian would teach her 'The Basic Theory of the Arcane', or rather what he could remember of it.

Even though Amber seemed to cope very well with her new found identity, he hadn't brought the subject up again. Neither had he asked her about anything else that had happened that day. It would be better for her to have a little bit of normality in her life for now. When the time was right, he would tell her about the clones, but not yet. For now they would be concentrating on finding their way through the wilderness to get to Zoey and Teep. That would give them enough to worry about, wandering through unknown lands, equipped with only basic armour and tools. Aside from the everyday dangers of roaming the lands without a shelter, Rythian began to worry about how to contact Ridgedog. Normally there was no need to call for him, as he always seemed to know in advance when something 'interesting' was going to happen. 'Interesting' usually meaning something horrible happening to other people. And if you failed to catch his attention with your predicament, you could normally count on certain people to call him for you...

Now that he thought about it, Rythian realised Lewis had been rather quiet on the subject. In fact, it was more than a little odd, that Ridge hadn't turned up when Yoglabs was attacked. Or at least afterwards. Where was he? Had he lost interest for some reason, or had something else caught his eye? Rythian had a bad feeling about the entire situation. Either something was wrong with Ridge, or something far worse than Yoglabs being destroyed and dangerous clones running amok, had happened elsewhere. And then there was something else nagging him. A thought in the back of his mind he couldn't quite grasp.

It was the slow movement of a shadow he caught out of the corner of his eye that cut off his line of thoughts. Something was close behind them, following, trying to keep a certain distance and keeping to the shadows. There was something entirely wrong about the movement. Animals didn't hide that way and any zombies or other mobs would have attacked at first sight. Whatever it was, it wasn't a friend. He slowed his walk and signalled Amber to walk beside him.

"We are being followed. Don't look up. It is hiding in the trees, behind us."

Amber nodded and kept her eyes on the ground.

"What is it? Zombie? Spider?"

She seemed remarkably calm.

"No. Nothing like that. I don't know yet, but we will find out. Follow my lead."

The forest they had entered after leaving the high passes of the Red Rock Mountains was dense and quiet. A little bit too quiet maybe. Rythian waved his apprentice over to a patch of mushrooms and, pretending to show her something, he casually dropped his bow off his shoulder. In one fluid motion he had an arrow knocked, drawn, aimed and loosened into the lush canopy a few strides behind them.

Amber followed the direction of his shot with here eyes and prepared a simple fire spell. There was a noise and rustling of leaves. She couldn't see what it was, but it didn't seem to be dead yet. She let her spell go. The entire tree went up in a ball of flames and in the blink of an eye the fire had consumed its crown, already spreading hungrily across other nearby trees.

Rythian swore. Realising her mistake Amber gasped, frantically thinking of a way to stop the fire from spreading and consuming the entire forest.

"Do something Rythian!"

"Like what?! Even _I_ can't make it rain! Fill a bucket! Quickly!"

"I don't have one!" Amber shouted, as she searched her pack hurriedly.

"Then make one!" He tossed a bunch of iron ingots in her direction before jumping right into the inferno, chopping down trees as fast as he could. Amber snatched up the iron and ran towards a little pond nearby. She quickly made a crafting bench and four buckets, dropped the rest of the iron and dashed back, the pond now dry.

By the time she reached the unfortunate tree, her mentor had already stopped the spreading, leaving a clearing, it's centre as hot as a dwarven furnace and thick with smoke. She hastily spilled water over the remaining burning trunks, flooding a wide area in the process.

"Aaah!"

The mage shouted a string of curses, some of which she had never even heard before, as he tried to avoid getting completely soaked.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry Rythian!"

Amber waded into the mess, coughing from the smoke, trying to find the mysterious creature that had been hiding from them.

"What did I tell you about control? What did I say about giving me same warning before you do this kind of stuff?"

Amber looked up guiltily. The mage had, rather ungracefully, scrambled half way up a tree that was hardly singed at all. He crouched on the thick branch, covered in grime, a sour expression on his face. She could tell even with his mask up.

"I panicked, okay? I... you said to make some buckets! What did you _expect_ me to do with them?!" she snapped.

"I didn't mean the water! I meant your spell. Do you have to burn everything down all the time? I mean, look at it! All this waste for what?" He made a sweeping gesture, "And now how are we supposed to find out what that thing was? It either escaped in the chaos or is burned to ashes. Neither is any use to me." he jumped down and waded towards his student, frowning.

"It was an accident," she mumbled, "I didn't mean to make it so big, I just wanted to make sure it was dead." She closed her eyes, head lowered and sighed. "I'm so rubbish at this. Every time I want to help, I make it worse. I always break everything. Never fix anything."

Rythian absentmindedly patted her on the arm, all the while frowning at his feet. He bent down, studying the dirty water. It was throwing odd ripples across it's surface. Almost like... _faces?_

"Maybe just keep off the fire for a while, okay? Have a look at this. Have you noticed something?"

Amber tilted her head in confusion, then it hit her.

"You...! This water, it's all... it's not water is it?"

He shook his head. Scooping up some of the liquid with both hands, the mage sniffed it and then, to Amber's complete surprise, drank it! She stood, dumb-folded, mouth hanging open, watching him as he pulled a face.

"Urgh. This could really do without the taste of ash in it. You should try it anyway. It's essence."

He watched her closely, as she dipped her hand into the puddle and licked her fingers. Her eyes went wide in surprise. She scooped up more, as he had done, slurping it rather noisily. His lips twitched upwards into a grin and he chuckled.

"Most people use it for their neutral essence in combination with a nexus... oh never mind. For you and me it is like food, but for your magic."

"But, I thought our magic is from the End? So that means this is End-essence then? Eugh."

"No, no it's pure natural essence. This is a little complicated. For now: We can use any naturally occurring magical sources to some degree. The more you use them instead of your basic magic the more you can distance yourself from the End. But it's not easy. You can't mix different kinds of magic. It will work for a while and on a small scale but eventually they will wreck havoc with your body. Anyway, let's not waste any more daylight. Come on."

As he explained, Rythian had managed to wash most of the dirt off his face. Amber was still looking for any sign of the mysterious watcher, but if she had hit it, it was nothing more than a pile of ashes now. Her teacher was right. When she had been unsure of her powers it had happened accidentally, but now there was simply no excuse to burn things down, just because she felt like it. She had to remember to be wary of her own feelings and desires.

–

It was dark apart from the one torch in their makeshift shelter. Amber couldn't sleep. She felt quite exhausted already from the journey so far, even though it was only the fourth day now. They had been marching at a speed she had not been thought possible. By the end of each day she was aching everywhere. She didn't complain though. There was no place she would have rather been.

Now though she just couldn't get her brain to stop thinking, so she gave up and carefully got up, trying not to disturb her brother. That thought still made her smile.

Outside of their hastily thrown together shack Amber took a deep breath, checking her weapons and searching the surrounding area for any monsters before deciding to take a short walk. Not too far of course. It was a quiet night. And a full moon was up. One of those rare occasions when you could sleep under the stars without a light and a good chance of not being disturbed. _A stupid thing to do of course, but you never realise just how stupid until much, much later._ She sighed, thinking back at those times when she had still had friends and when they were getting themselves into all kinds of mischief.

Those had been... - a twig snapped somewhere. In an instant Amber had her sword drawn and crouched behind a tree, scanning the forest. _Not so quiet then._ There it was again. Now she could see something moving. A small, blue creature, wearing a rag of a loin cloth, huge ears sticking out either side of its ugly, animal-like head.

She had never seen anything like it. It seemed to be alone. Sheathing her sword, she carefully took her bow instead, knocking an arrow. The blue... thing hadn't spotted her yet. It was slowly creeping in the direction of their camp – where Rythian was sleeping. The decision was not a difficult one. She stepped out of her hiding place, following the intruder with her gaze across the tip of her arrow.

"Who are you? And no sudden movements."

Her voice, even though she had spoken quietly, seemed strangely out of place in the stillness of the night. It made the creature jump. It turned around in a crouch, teeth bared and snarling silently.

"Who are you? What do you want?" she asked again. Her arrow steadily pointing at its torso, where she presumed its heart was. It squirmed and moved to the side, now with something of a smile on its face. Amber couldn't help but notice the pointy teeth.

"Misstiss" it hissed, still awkwardly shuffling around her, trying to escape the deadly missile aimed at it.

"Misstiss" It bent in the middle, almost folding in half.

"What?" Amber didn't know what to make of it. _What the hell is this thing? Is it talking to me or what?_

"Miss! Tiss!" it insisted, waving a clawed... hand? Paw? She wasn't sure... at her.

"What do you want?"

"Misstiss fouhou! Misstiss." It waved at her, beckoning and moving backwards. Back into the forest.

"Fouhou!"

_Does it mean 'follow'? It wants me to follow?_ She warily lowered her weapon a little.

"You want me to follow you."

It nodded vigorously, ears flapping. It was quite comical to watch.

"Alright. Just remember, no sudden movements! I'm not going to take this arrow off. Any foul play on your part – you'll get a closer look at it than you could ever wish for, understood?"

It nodded again. More slowly.

"Iss misstiss."

"Mistress?" she asked, slowly following the blue... what? Gnome?

"Iss misstiss."

"I'm not your mistress."

"Misstiss?"

Amber sighed and let it go. The gnome, she decided to think of it as that, as it seemed as good a guess as any, didn't seem to be too bright. It tried to walk backwards to see if she was following, but kept walking into trees and tripping. Eventually it gave up and turned around. At least for a few strides. All the while muttering quietly: "Misstiss. Fouhou misstiss. Fouhou."

When Amber fell back a little, it started an awkward mixture between a sideways hobble and a crawl. Amber wondered whether she should have woken Rythian. She didn't think she was in any danger from this little creature. Even with its teeth and claws it was no match for her. And if there were more? If it was leading her into a trap? _Unlikely. And even if._ She was wearing full armour, had plenty of arrows, a sword and tools to defend herself with. And if all that failed, she still had her magic. And yet...

"Is it much further, 'cos I think I have walked enough for a night."

The gnome shook its big, ugly head, ears slapping it in the face.

"Noo misstiss! Fouhou, fouhou!"

Suddenly there was the faintest of glows ahead of them. Amber was sure she would have missed it if she hadn't been so alert, watching out for any oddities.

"What is that?"

"Potou misstiss," the gnome whispered, seemingly exited and in awe. As they got closer, Amber could see that it was a little pool surrounded by flowers. A soft glow was coming from the water's purple shimmering surface. She could see the stars and the moon reflecting in it.

It was beautiful.

"It's beautiful."

"Booteefoo" the gnome echoed.

She stared at the water in silence for a while, bow forgotten, arrow loosely in her left hand. There was something peaceful about it. She could barely take her eyes of the swirling colours. But something was nagging at her in the back of her mind. An uneasy feeling started to creep up her spine. It settled like a prickling sensation between her shoulder blades and made her shiver. As if she was being watched. She blinked. The gnome was looking at her expectingly. Waiting for something to happen? She lifted her bow again and the creature squawked, ducking.

–

It took Rythian quite a while to get to sleep. He was bone tired. He had set himself, and Amber quite a hard pace, trying to make up time for all the hours and days lost in Sjins prison and then at Bla... the crater. Amber was similarly exhausted, but she never commented on it, so he carried on.

When sleep finally came it was riddled with nightmares.

There was Zoey. She was talking to him through an invisible wall. Her voice was muffled, he couldn't tell what she wanted.

"I can't... Zoey..."

Then Teep was clawing at the barrier, his fury showing on his reptilian features.

"I'm sorry Zoey! I can't..." Something was holding him back. He looked behind him. A dragon. Sleeping? Its tail end curled around his waist as he knelt before his friends. He tried to get out. His efforts made no difference. He was moving as if through thick slime. Zoey was desperately clinging onto the invisible wall that separated them, trying to get through, her face twisted in anger.

"I am sorry! Zoey! I am so sorry!" Rythian twisted and wiggled, jerking at the scaly hide. It was shrinking now. Or moving further away? He redoubled his efforts. A darkness stretched across the world behind his friends' heads. It came at them as a black wall of chaotic, swirling movements, engulfing everything in its path.

He screamed. Pointing. Zoey and Teep whipped their heads around, then back, suddenly smiling at him. Sad smiles.

"Nooo!" he gripped the dragons tail and twisted with all his strength until it ripped apart, now thinner than the body of an ordinary snake and jumped up, just as his friends were swept away by the howling, black madness. Cracks were forming along the barrier.

Too late! He had been too late! He roared... shards like glass flying towards his face as the barrier exploded – and he jerked awake.

Just as a crude blade stabbed through his right shoulder.


	10. Chapter 10 - One Hell of a Night

**Chapter 10 – One Hell of a Night **

The point of her arrow quivered as Amber aimed it at the gnome. It had lead her here to this strangely glowing pond, that constantly drew her eyes back to its shimmering surface. She had followed it with hardly a thought of Rythian, her brother, now sleeping in an open hut...

What had possessed her to leave him like that in the middle of the night? She shook her head, trying to clear her mind. Then she heard it. A scream? Coming from their camp. She narrowed her eyes and growled at the little blue creature. It let out a trembling squeak and hunched down, with its short arms over its head, hiding its snout-like face. It had lured her away form the mage, possibly into a trap. She should have known.

With one last glance at the miserable thing, she whipped around and dashed back through the forest, listening out for any sounds of a fight. Bushes and branches seemed to be clawing at her as she ran past, her foot caught a piece of dead wood on the ground, she tripped, lost her bow and arrow, scrambled back up.

Where did she drop it? _No time!_ She drew her sword and ran on. There was a lot of noise up ahead now. Shouting, hissing, howling and explosions echoing through the night. _Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ She burst through the last trees out into the little clearing they had picked as a camping spot and stared. It had turned into an outright battlefield.

A horde of gnomes was surrounding a bleeding Rythian, scrambling over their fallen to get to the Enderborn. The entire place, peaceful and quiet just moments before, was now packed with endermen. The black, tall humanoids kept teleporting around the clearing and between the trees, using an attack-and-run tactic, clawing and slashing at the mage from all sides. There were so many of them, Amber felt completely overwhelmed. She shook herself, took a step towards her brother, sword raised. She was confused. _Why?_ Everything had seemed so clear just a second ago. Now she felt as if her thoughts were drowning in syrup.

"What -?" she took another step forward. An enderman appeared right in front of her, huge maw open, exposing row after row of sharp teeth. She flinched back and instinctively lashed out at it. And suddenly she could think clearly again. Amber screamed and charged at the mass of black and bluish mobs, slashing herself an opening left, right and centre.

"Rythian!"

He half turned around, but was too busy fending off his attackers to pay attention to her shouting. A lightning bolt hit an especially thick huddle of endermen, killing a few right on the spot. The rest teleported away. It gave her an idea.

"Rythian! Get out of there! NOW!"

She didn't have to concentrate. The split second the mage teleported himself away, the pile of gnomes, now falling over one-another, burst into white hot flames. None got up again as the fire collapsed. Amber tried to regain her focus. After-images were floating before here eyes, she hadn't closed them in time.

Something touched her shoulder. She let out a frightened yelp, stumbled away and brought her sword around in a wide arc. It hit solid flesh, bit through muscle and shattered bone – making Rythian gasped for breath. He looked deathly pale, his oddly dark purple eyes opened wide, as he stared at Amber in shock. She stared back, uncomprehending, blinking. Blood started seeping from underneath his right hand. A lot of blood. He stood stooped, clutching at his left arm, his sword lying at his feet. It couldn't be true. She couldn't have done that. It wasn't real. Nothing was real! It was all just a dream. _Just a horrible, horrible dream!_

His lips were moving but no sound came out, as he slowly sank to his knees in front of her. An enderman appeared behind the collapsing mage, grabbing at his cloak. Amber threw herself at the monster, heedless of the claws, the teeth, its strength. She had lost all sense of logical thinking. She just wanted to hurt these creatures. It was all their fault! Everything was because of _them!_ She punched, it disappeared. She quickly turned, standing protectively over her brothers fallen form. They all seemed to concentrate on her now. Before it had been almost as if she were invisible to them. All their eyes had been on the mage, now though, she was at the centre of their attention. So she turned and ran. Ducking and zigzagging around the teleporting mobs, occasionally lashing out at them, if they got within reach or barred her way. She needed to get as much distance between herself and Rythian as possible. It was his only chance. If they followed her, and she hoped like hell, that they would, he had a chance. A slim chance, but she couldn't find any other solution. Her world was falling apart. Everything had gone from near perfect to worst case scenario within, what? An hour? A couple of minutes? She didn't even know. All she could think of, was to lead them away. As far away as possible. It wasn't until she reached the pool, that she realised which way she had run. There was no time however to change her mind now, she could see the tall, black figures zapping all around her. A last prayer to Notch, and she jumped through...

–

It wasn't right. The feeling of – wrongness grew stronger and stronger. Something wasn't right. _What...?_ The darkness, for a start. Shouldn't it be light? At least a little bit? But it was pitch black. And everything felt so heavy. On top of that, what was that eerie noise? It sounded really close. An irregular rasping sound. A disgusting noise. Why was it so _dark?_

– earlier, not so far away –

"Could you dig this area out, over here, then we can start laying the foundations. I'm just going to get some lava. Do we have any empty buckets?"

"Sure! How big are we gonna make it by the way? Oh, I think we have a bucket or two in one of the chests downstairs somewhere. Shall I just start digging and then you can have a look? I mean, It has to be big enough to fit them all in at the same time, but we can't make it bigger than our house. Our tower, I mean. That would look weird. Tell you what, I just make a start and we can always make it bigger. Oh! Or we could expand it downwards! Then it could go all the way down to bedrock, if we had to! Yeah, I'm gonna do that."

The excitable little man had been walking in strange patterns while he was talking, but as he came to a solution to his problem, he set off like a man possessed. He obviously knew how to build. And build well. He cleared out an area, felling trees and flattening the land at great speed. Meanwhile his companion had found and filled almost all the buckets he could carry with bubbling lava. The last one, he filled with water from the nearby lake. Together the two men dug out the perimeter of their building project.

"Is that enough, do you think?" the shorter one asked. He stood in the middle of their freshly dug pit, turning on his heels.

"Should be. Okay, now if I flood it like this -" the other one said, as he poured lava into the pit, "we can turn the floor into obsidian straight away!"

"Duncan, you son of a -! You could have killed me then!"

Duncan chuckled, poring more lava into the building site, as he watched the other man hastily scramble out of the hole.

"Nooo, you were fine, I was far enough away from you. Here, fill them up with lava from downstairs again. And make some iron fences!" he shouted, as his friend snatched up the empty buckets in a huff, retreating a little faster than necessary from the slowly expanding lava pit.

–

Rythian floated out of unconsciousness like an oily bubble to the surface of an ink-black pond. First there was blessed forgetting, then – agony. He found himself face down in the grass. His broken and torn arm wedged between his chest and thighs, the way he had broken down in the fight. As he slowly lifted his upper body to come into a kneeling position, the pain and loss of blood became too much and he toppled sideways, loosing consciousness for a second time...

It didn't last very long. When he came to again, spots dancing in front of his vision, the clearing was still empty. But between gritting his teeth and concentrating on staying awake long enough to come up with a spell to take the pain away, he thought he could hear a fair number of monsters coming closer, towards his position. A large number, by the sounds of it. He shook his head - a mistake, instead of clearing his mind, the movement sent another agonising wave of pain down his arm and he couldn't suppress a yelp. There was no time to lose. And he couldn't afford to give away his position, or his weakness to the bulk of mobs that were on the way to finally finish him.

With his eyes tightly shut, breathing sharply through his nose, Rythian sent a small part of his rapidly dwindling magic down his shattered arm. The incomprehensible agony became a sharp, yet bearable pain. It wouldn't last long though. He didn't have much left. And it didn't heal the broken bones or the torn flesh and didn't stop the bleeding either. He took a shaky breath and reached for his sword. Giving up was not an option. The strange assembly of kobolds and endermen would be back any moment. He needed to stop the bleeding and get moving. The only part of him that wasn't completely soaked in blood was his cloak. He hacked at it awkwardly with his sword, one arm completely useless, the other badly injured. Finally something of a bandage came off in a tattered mess and eventually he managed to wind it tightly around the wound, making a rough sling. More and more noise was coming from the forests edge now, he couldn't see anything, but they were close. Too close.

The battered mage slowly, painfully got to his feet, shaking and dizzy. His right hand felt strangely cold and numb, barely able to hold the sword. He dropped it. No point. There was not much fight left in him anyway. Speed would have to be the key. The first lurching step almost made his knees buckle. The second was not much easier. It was going to be one hell of a night.

–

"It's getting dark Sjin. Let's pack in for today."

Duncan yawned and dropped the hammer. His hand was hurting. It had been a long day.

"Okay, I'll just finish off this last bit here."

Happy with his finishing touches on their latest project, Sjin followed the blond into the safety of their home.

–

Sjin jerked awake. _What?_ Something had woken him. A sound. He carefully sat up and glanced over to Duncan's bed. The scientist - he still thought of him that way, despite the fact, that he wore a wizard's hat now and they both worked as a sort of policing force for magic – was fast asleep. He even wore his hat in bed. To prove a point maybe. Or to convince himself.

Sjin strained to make out what had woken him. There were the typical nightly noises outside, animals in the woods, monsters in the distance. Zombies mostly. And the odd faint hiss of a spider. Nothing unusual. That was the trouble of living in a magical forest. It was always crawling with mobs. He was about to lay back again when a not so distant 'boom' rattled the windows.

"Shit."

He threw the covers back, grabbing his boots with one hand and his sword with the other, before stepping close to the window that seemed to be roughly the direction of the explosion.

"Whsln?" Duncan mumbled, turning over and pulling the thick duvet over his head. It pushed his hat off and revealed a messy mop of strawberry-blond hair, sticking up in a brush, the old pair of goggles binding them together like the most unfashionable hair tie imaginable.

"Get up lazy arse! There is someone on our land, making a hell of a racket! How can you sleep though all these explosions? Hey!"

He grabbed his pillow and threw it across, hitting the blond in the side. All he got was a muffled 'ouf' and a yawn.

"I _said,_ get up! C'mon Duncan! Aren't you curious who's out there? Could be anyone. They might need our help!"

"Or they might need a good kickin' for sneaking around in our forest at night," Duncan muttered, as he slowly untangled himself from his bedding.

Sjin was already half way down the ladder, while his friend still sat on his bed, trying to get his goggles off, without pulling too much hair out. He winced as a few sad strands caught in the strap.

Another blast echoed through the night. Duncan imagined he saw a flash of light through the window, throwing dancing shadows against the walls. He sighed, pulled his boots on and reluctantly scrambled downstairs after Sjin. The little farmer – police man – he corrected himself, stood by the front door, in full armour. He looked eager to go out there and get butchered by Notch new what.

"You not gonna put something on? A chest piece at least?"

"Naah, I'll be fine. A real wizard doesn't need armour." He punctuated his statement with yet another yawn. Sjin raised an eyebrow, but shrugged and cautiously opened the door. It was dark but a full moon was just setting, making the thick canopy of the witch-wood trees turn a silvery shade. It was quiet now, but then the wind turned and brought with it a faint groan. The two friends stepped out into the night, towards the disturbing sound. Both had their swords drawn and glanced about nervously, despite Duncan's earlier boasting. They didn't have to walk very far. Just beyond the vegetable patch, near the gate, a dark figure was huddling against the fence.

Sjin stopped when he spotted it, making Duncan walk right into him. They shared a look, Duncan shrugged, stepped forward, a torch held high, and levelled his blade.

"Show your face or prepare to die!"

Sjin rolled his eyes. _He's always had a thing for being overly dramatic._ Then all mirth left him, as the figure slowly lifted it's head.

Dark hair, blood splattered face, half covered by a dirty, probably blood soaked mask – purple eyes.

"Rythian."


End file.
